A Bloody Dilemma
by MysticEyesx
Summary: Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan. AU, OOC.
1. I

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"The attacks are becoming more consistent, Chief." Deputy Mark said in a deep professional tone as the two men stared down at the photographs laid out on the desk before them. They were standing in what could be pinned as the Chief's office, the day coming to a close, with the utmost troubled expressions on their faces. Deputy reached up to wipe his brow and spoke again. "Ten attacks in the past month—five of which have happened in the past three weeks. The evidence is clear, Chief."

Chief Charlie Swan sighed, pulling himself down to sit on the chair behind the desk, resting his elbow on the desk he stared down at the photographs troubled. "The evidence is becoming _too _clear—people are beginning to notice." Charlie leant backwards, opened a draw and pulled out a newspaper. He threw the newspaper across the desk. "Page 10." Charlie grunted, his eyes never leaving the pictures on the desk. In each photograph, was a body lain on the floor—it's body stained with blood and mauled from the neck.

Deputy Mark pulled the newspaper open and turned it to page 10. He read the title aloud: "_Small Town Overawed With Mass Murders." _Mark looked up at Charlie with a struck expression.

"Even _Seattle Times _are noticing the attacks." Charlie gruffly said, pulling the newspaper back. "They even question our authorities at some point." Charlie snorted as he looked down at the newspaper. "_Swann_. They could have at least spelt my name right." Mark let out a small snicker as Charlie tossed the newspaper aside; the newspaper soared across the room and landed in the trashcan.

Mark shook his head. "What are we going to do, Chief? I mean, this article may have only made page 10 but people in Forks still read this. If people start to believe what they read…" Mark stumbled for words. "Well, we'll be dealing with a lot more than a murder-crisis. The authorities will be questioning our methods—we could be…"

"I know fully well what could happen, Mark." Charlie interrupted, waving his hand. "But we can't let that disrupt our work; we have a bigger priority on our hands." Mark nodded in agreement and Charlie leant forward, looking down at the pictures with a sigh. "As long as the press doesn't catch wind of the attacked having mauled necks and severe cases of loss of blood, then we're fine for now."

Mark nodded again, mentally taking note to get Officer White on the case. "So what's the plan, Chief? How are we going to get rid of this vam-…?"

Charlie waved his hand again. "Don't say the word." He snapped. Mark sheepishly mumbled an apology. "But, yes, Mark, that is a good question." Charlie ran a hand through his messy disarray of dark brown chairs, hints of grey peaking at the roots. "As you know this isn't the first time Forks has suffered from _you-know-what _attacks; before now this has been something the Quileute tribe have dealt with, and this time round they have tried to deal with it—but this _you-know-what _is very… persistent." Charlie and Mark shivered. "So until the tribe has any luck with _it, _we'll have to take some matters into our own hands."

"OK, Chief…"

Charlie sighed deeply. "Now, I have a friend across the country—she happens to be a Sherriff of a small town with similar _issues._ We got to know each other well when we went to the same Police training college." Mark smirked at the last sentence. Charlie scoffed and glared. "Not like that, Mark." He grunted and Mark gestured for him to continue. "Anyway, this friend of mine happens to be from a town who are very experienced in dealing with these kind of issues in their own hands, since they didn't exactly have a Native American wolf-shifting neighbour to lend a hand." Mark let out a small snicker.

"So you're going to give this Sherriff a call, Chief?"

Charlie's eyes twinkled. "I already have." Mark nodded. "She was willing to lend a hand."

Mark's brows furrowed. "Lend a hand, how…?"

"At this very minute, Sherriff Forbes is arranging one of her own town members who happens to be very experienced in the matter of vampire hunting." Charlie leant back in his chair, clasping his hands together on his lap. "Apparently his name is Damon Salvatore and has done a lot of justice to the town ridding the vampires that attacked there. Liz should be calling any second now with his answer."

***.*.***


	2. II

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Damon." Damon turned around to see Liz Forbes staring at him with concerned eyes. He finally realized that he had been staring into the room where Elena was hospitalized for longer than a human should without blinking. As always, Liz was dressed in her Sherriff uniform and through her concerned face, the rings beneath her eyes were visible. Damon had never seen Liz look old until now. But then again, the past few days were enough to make anyone suffer.

Damon gave Liz an emotionless smile. "Liz." He acknowledged his somewhat friend and somewhat colleague. He turned back to stare through the gaps of the blinds. Through the gaps, Damon could make out the shape of Elena laying on the bed; Stefan was on the bed next to her, the two of them were talking. They weren't smiling, but Damon didn't need to see their smiles to see the happiness between the both of them.

Elena was alive—despite the hiccup Stefan had made, and although someone could argue differ—and had completed her transformation. She was now sitting in a hospital bed, at complete ease with herself, and her ring finger was now donning a large gleaming diamond. Every so often Elena's eyes would flicker to the window where Damon stood and for a moment her eyes would be flickered with trouble and guilt, until she would remind herself she finally had Stefan back in her life as her soul-mate again. She'd turn to Stefan again and then it was like Damon wasn't there.

Like the past few months had never happened.

"She's completed the transformation, then?" Liz's voice interrupted Damon's muse. She was now standing beside him, staring through the window. Damon didn't bother himself to answer, but the answer was clear. "She doesn't look any different." Damon couldn't disagree more; she couldn't have looked more different in his eyes even if she tried. "But then again, how can I say that? My own daughter is a vampire and she still looks like the sixteen year old girl…before all of _this _happened." Liz gestured around her in frustration. She sighs. "Sometimes you can't but help but wonder what if things had gone differently."

Damon refrained a snort. "You can say that again." He winced, regretting opening his mouth. His voice was coarse and practically screaming out his pain. His voice was heard by both Stefan and Elena, who turned to look towards him with sorrowful eyes. He knew Stefan felt guilty about it all; it was such a Stefan thing to do. But he also knew Stefan would never leave Elena to please him; Stefan needed Elena just as much as Damon needed Elena—perhaps even more so.

Damon felt Liz put a hand on his shoulder in what she hoped to be a comforting manner. "Sometimes things happen for a reason, Damon." Liz softly said to him. "That's what I came to realize." Liz sucked in a breath. "After Caroline turned into a vampire, I thought it was over—that was it—I'd never have a daughter again. But I was proved wrong and now I couldn't have been more close to my daughter than ever." Liz patted his shoulder. "Maybe this is someone's way of telling you that you need to move on and just… explore." Damon had the strange feeling that Liz was going somewhere with this.

Damon diverted his eyes, Stefan and Elena's stares had finally become too much. "I have no choice but to move on." Damon looked up and caught Stefan's eyes. "After all I made a deal. The choice has been made; I have to leave Mystic Falls." Stefan's face dropped, his face was a look of pain, his mouth opened as if he wanted to say something but Damon turned to face Liz who was watching him with sympathy.

Damon hated the stare. He hated the pity in Elena, Stefan and Liz's eyes.

Liz sucked in a breath. "How would you be interested in going to sort out a vampire situation up in Washington?"

***.*.***


	3. III

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"(…)_5, 6, 7, 8_… 1, 2, 3, 4…_5, 6, 7, 8_… Keep your knees up Katie!" Lauren Mallory called over the crowd of cheerleaders as they waved their pompoms and kicked their legs upwards. Lauren was standing at the front, hands gripping her own green, yellow and white pompoms, watching the crowd with a hawk-like stare. "Higher Katie! _5, 6, 7, 8_… 1, 2, 3, 4…_5, 6, 7, 8_…" Lauren continued to count the rhythm, clapping her pompoms together with each number she shouted. "Bella!" Lauren snapped. "What the hell are you doing? You can't stop during a routine!"

Bella Swan quickly snapped her back up. "Sorry – shoelace." Bella muttered her cheeks aflame. Lauren glared at her and began to watch her like a hawk. Katie sighed when the attention was pulled away from her. Bella sucked in a breath, ignoring Lauren's stare, and fell in sync with the rest of the group, waving her pompoms around. Next to her, her good friend Jessica Stanley was snickering under her breath—only heard by Bella. So whilst Bella spun, she 'accidentally' elbowed Jess who let out a yelp.

"_Bella!_" Lauren snapped over the crowd of rustling pompoms. "Can you _not _spin without knocking another team member out? Some of us want to still be standing by the time the music stops!" Bella blushed harder when a few girls giggled. Jess shot the girls that giggled a glare and smiled at Bella encouragingly. Bella smiled back gratefully to Jess. "Uh, you know what – we'll finish there, girls." Lauren reached over a pressed the stop button on Lauren's pink bejewelled stereo. "You were all _terrible_—especially you Katie, and don't think I didn't see that spin. It looked like an elephant whose had it's tail caught on fire." Lauren snarled at the tiny redhead.

Katie squeaked and rushed over to the changing rooms.

Lauren rolled her eyes. "Someone go check on her to make sure she turns up next week. _No-one _is allowed to quit—am I understood?—the football game is in two weeks and we have to be _perfect_; which means _practice _girls, _practice_!" Lauren hollered to the girls, picking up her stereo. "We will now be meeting every day after school until we're picture perfect. Practice finished." Lauren flipped her silvery blonde hair over her shoulder and strutted away from the group of girls without a second glance. She let out a loud giggle as soon as she saw the boys in football gear finishing up their practice. "Tyler! Hey, Tyler! Wait up! I have to show you something!"

"Yeah, her silicone boobs." Jess grumbled as she and Bella walked back towards the changing rooms. Bella laughed under her breath. "Ugh, can you believe her? Practice _every day _after school? What are we going to tell work?" Jess exclaimed as they walked into the changing room filled with cheerleaders gossiping and cooling themselves down from the long practices. Jess and Bella walked straight to where their bags were hung.

Bella shook her head. "You tell me. I put myself down for three shifts at The Lodge this week." Bella grumbled, pulling the thong out of her hair, letting her long mahogany curls fall to her waist. She pulled on her simple black jacket over her green and white with yellow accents and FHS imprinted across the chest cheer costume. She then slung her rucksack over her back just as Jess shoved her rucksack over her shoulder too.

"Why are you complaining? We all know Diana and Cora love you; they won't be bothered if you cancelled on them. Me on the other hand… they'll fire me, I'm sure." Jess said with a cringe. They walked out of the changing rooms and out into the empty parking lot.

Bella shook her head with a small smile. "Well _maybe_, instead of ditching work to make out with Mike Newton behind the bleachers, you should actually turn up for work." Bella laughed when Jess scowled and nudged her with her elbow. The sky was slowly turning dark and the girls were making their way to Jess' rusty Ford sitting in the parking lot.

"It's not funny, Bella. This thing with Mike is _serious_!" Jess whined. Bella raised her eyebrows. "Well… sort of. OK, it's not. But the making out is _so good._" Bella giggled, slipping into the front passenger seat of Jess' Ford. Jess slipped into the driver's seat. "Just yesterday he told me that he wanted me to come over to his house while his parents are away." Jess said with a somewhat excited grin.

Bella looked at her cautiously. "You mean to…" Jess nodded, biting her lip. "Oh my God, seriously?" Bella breathed. "Jess, this is _big. _Do you even want to… y'know…do _it_?"

Jess sighed exasperatedly. "I don't know." She exclaimed breathlessly. "It's a big decision."

"You know you don't have to do anything if you're not ready right?" Bella told her pointedly. They were pausing at a crossroad, the red light gleaming. Jess nodded and sighed again. "What did you tell him?"

"I said I'd think about it." Jess said, biting her lip. When the red light switched to green, Jess stepped down on the pedal. She went surging forward across the crossroads, when suddenly a dark figure blurred in front of the car. Jess and Bella screamed as they saw a dark outline of a figure appear. Jess slammed her foot down on the breaks. "Oh my God!" Jess screamed as the car abruptly stopped with a loud agonizing whine. "Did you see that too?"

Bella gulped nodding, trying to steady her heart. "What the hell was it? It looked like a…"

"Person." Jess finished, restarting the car. "But it's gone now." Bella shook her head, sucking in a breath. _What had just happened? _"I don't know about you but things around here have got _seriously _creepy." Jess exclaimed, equally as breathless as she moved down the road again, shivering. "Mom and Dad don't like to talk about it but it's pretty obvious something around here is going on. I mean – strange disappearances? People being attacked at the dead of night?" Jess glanced at Bella. "Has your Dad said much?"

Bella shook her head, brows furrowed. "He said that they were animal attacks." Jess snorted and Bella nodded her head; she also failed to believe the story.

"Animal attacks my ass." Jess retorted as they drove up Bella's road. "Something's definitely going on around here—and it's not good."

***.*.***


	4. IV

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Damon was barely acknowledging what he was doing; he was picking the nearest things up he could reach and shoving them into his duffle-bag as quick as he could. Though the reason for his hasty packing was ended when the sound of the front door of the Salvatore Boarding House opened and closed; Damon paused for a moment before blurring around the room and quickening his pace. He didn't even freeze when he felt _his _presence at the threshold.

"Shouldn't you be with your fiancé, right now?" Damon spat out grudgingly, shoving in another t-shirt and some jeans from the closet. He didn't even look at his brother as he moved around the room, picking up and packing things he probably would never need. But from the corner of his eye he managed to see Stefan wince and hang his head in guilt. Damon couldn't bring it in himself to feel his own guilt for being this way. He knew it wasn't Stefan's fault; Elena was the one who chose Stefan over him. But he couldn't help it.

Stefan stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. "She's resting." Stefan answered, watching his brother move around the room. "I thought it would be a good idea to come talk to you while I still can." Stefan's eyes winced. "Apparently you're in a bigger rush than I thought."

Damon turned around to face his brother, arms stretched out, with a foreign smirk. "What can I say? I'm eager to kill those vampires in Washington." Damon cocked his head to the side. "And you may not know, but I happen to be _very _good at keeping my side of deals." Damon turned away before the pain in his eyes would be displayed. He shoved another book that sat on his nightstand into his duffle bag.

Stefan walked into the room. "Don't do this Damon. You don't have to leave—the deal is off."

"No, it isn't Stefan." Damon deeply said throwing the duffel-bag down onto the bed and began to zip it up. "You've got what you wanted; Elena chose you. _You _not me." Damon's voice cracked at the end. "Besides, you would have done the same thing if it were the other way around." Damon looked up at Stefan through his lashes, his icey blue eyes cold. He smirked heartlessly. "But don't worry, baby brother, she chose you. It was you all along." Stefan flinched and watched Damon shove on a leather jacket.

There was a long moment of silence between the two of them as Damon put on his jacket.

"Why didn't you tell Elena you were the one who met her first?" Stefan suddenly spoke. Damon looked up, surprised. Stefan nodded. "She told me; she remembered what you compelled her to forget as soon as she completed the transformation."

Damon shrugged. "Did it make a difference to her decision?" Stefan said nothing; the answer was clear in the air between them. "Then why does it matter?" Damon picked up the duffle-bag. "She got the love that consumes her… with you…and she's now going to be your wife." Stefan stared at Damon, pain evident in his eyes. "My sister-in-law." Damon said after a moment of thought. The both of the winced. "I don't think I'll be going to your wedding, little brother, I hope you understand." Damon said sarcastically. Damon moved towards Stefan, towards the door. He stopped beside Stefan, looking down at him. "Well done, brother." Damon emotionlessly said, putting his hand on Stefan's shoulder. "The best man won." Damon's eyes flickered with emotion. "Love her like I never could; don't take her of advantage…don't mess it up—don't mess it up like I did."

Stefan shook his head. "You didn't mess it up, Damon."

Damon gave Stefan a tight smile, pulling his hand from Stefan's shoulder. "See you in a century or two, Stefan." He lowly said before moving around him and walking out of the door.

"What are you going to do next?" Stefan called after him. "When you've killed the vampires in Washington; what are you going to do next?"

Damon paused at the door, and looked around at him. "Who knows? Perhaps I'll find my own pretty brunette."

Stefan rolled his eyes at the comment. "Well… you know you're always welcome here, right? Mystic Falls is your home just as much as mine."

"No it's not Stefan—not anymore." Damon gave Stefan one last smile before leaving the room. Stefan was frozen; he couldn't quite bring up the strength to follow him, force him to stay in Mystic Falls, because there was a part of him that knew that if Damon stayed… Elena could change her decision. And although Stefan felt selfish for letting Damon go like that, he knew it would be the right thing for Elena and him. Because in the end, without Elena, Stefan was nothing.

As Damon walked down onto the foyer, dufflebag in hand, the front door opened and in came Caroline, Bonnie, Matt and Tyler. They were laughing, walking in with bags of what looked like snacks and alcohol. Caroline was the first one to notice him, smiling widely.

"Damon! There you are—just in time; Elena's going to be here any minute. We're going to have a celebration party—a Welcome to Eternal Life party." Caroline giggled. "I hope you don't mind us raiding your blood stash, since the council found out we're on high-alert. We don't want to risk anything… wait, what's with the bag?"

Damon didn't answer; he smirked at all of them and their confused faces. "See you Blondie, Judgey, Quaterback, Mutt…" Damon walked passed them and through the door, ignoring Caroline's calls after him. He walked towards the garage and as he walked through, to his Mustang, a familiar car drove up into the driveway.

He caught the faces of Elena and Jeremy in the car, both of them watching him. Damon's eyes lingered on Elena's for a split second, a part of him wondering if he'd ever see that face again in the next centuary, before sliding into the Mustang and driving passed the car without a second glance.

***.*.***


	5. V

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

The next morning, Bella skipped down the stairs missing them one at a time. Just as she reached the bottom step, she felt her shoe get lodged into something and send her flying forward. Before she could even let out a yelp, she was being seized by the arms and balanced back onto her feet. She suddenly smelt the familiar scent of her Dad's aftershave and looked up to see her Dad chuckling and shaking her head down at her. He was wearing his uniform—no surprise there.

"Y'know, Bells, for a cheerleader you're awfully clumsy." Charlie chuckled as he let go of her. Bella un-lodged her shoe from the stairs and the two made their way into the kitchen. Bella walked straight to the cupboard and pulled out two granola bars. "Uh-Ah," Charlie said with a disapproving look on his face. "You're not just having that for breakfast; you're going to have a proper meal—at the table and every thin'." Charlie grumbled as he sat down at the table, pushing the bowl of Cheerio's towards her.

Bella sighed, shoved the granola bars into her rucksack that sat on the kitchen counter and sat down at the table. She picked up her spoon and began picking and poking at the Cheerios. Meanwhile Charlie dug into his bacon, scrambled eggs and hash browns. After Bella started high school, Charlie thought it would be a good idea to start learning how to cook for once—even if Bella was perfectly happy with cooking him meals every morning and night. But Charlie was persistent and insisted upon it. It turned out to be handy because once Bella became a cheerleader; she now had more time on her hands to dedicate to practice.

As Bella shoved another spoonful of Cheerios into her mouth, she decided she might as well tolerate it whilst reading the paper. Eyeing Charlie, who didn't make any movement at Bella pulling the newspaper towards her, she flipped the folded _Seattle Times _over and read the front page. As usual, it was on about the economic crisis going down. Bella flipped the page which soon turned into pages when she read titles after titles on economic problems happening to businesses and families. She got enough of this at school.

She had landed at page 7 and froze when she read a smaller article's title: "_Forks Civilians Fear Small Town's Police Aren't Competent."_ She read the title in her head. She looked up at Charlie; he was too engrossed in his breakfast to notice her change of posture. She looked down at the article again and began to read the first few lines.

"'_Just yesterday after the first article's release on small-town Fork's strange mass murders, Forks civilians contacted _Seattle Times_ to give their opinions on the serious and deadly matter going down in the northern-western town established for its logging companies. Forks, also known as the 'logging capital' has been known to be a quiet rural town just an hour out of Port Angeles and minutes away from a Native American tribe and coastline. And it wasn't until recently that a strange occurrence of killings have happened, that the town's tranquil lifestyle has been broken. Ten killings have happened in the space of three months and the Forks civilians are beginning their question their safety. When a reporter spoke to the civilians, the small-town's people seemed to only have one doubt on their mind: whether Forks' Police are capable. The police station is run by Chief Charles Swann and-(…)'"_

Bella stopped reading. She couldn't read any longer.

"Dad…" Bella croaked. Charlie looked up from his breakfast. "I think you should read this." Charlie took the newspaper from Bella's outstretched hand and began to read. Bella watched as his face turned a peculiar shade of reddish purple in what Bella knew was anger. Her fingers gripped the edge of the table as she watched Charlie's eyes read each line of the article. "What's going on Dad?" Bella whispered. Charlie said nothing. "It isn't animals that are attacking these people, is it?"

Charlie sighed. "Bella," Charlie said warningfully. "This isn't for you to discuss. It's a matter for the police and the police alone. Don't you dare go snooping around." Bella opened her mouth to protest but Charlie held up a commanding finger. "_No_, Bella." Charlie slammed the newspaper down onto the table. "You _will not _ask any more questions about this case, am I understood?" Bella was too shocked to say anything. She had never seen Charlie so angry. "_Am I_ understood?"

Bella looked down at her hands. "Yes." she grumbled.

"Good." Charlie breathed in relief. "Now, listen to me; don't you go listening to what these papers say. They are talking bullshit." Charlie grunted, throwing the newspaper away. "They are nothing but nosey reporters looking for a piece. OK?" Bella nodded. "Right. Now, there is something else I wanted to talk to you about." Charlie said, wiping his brow. He let put a puffing breath, leaning back in his chair. "With all these _animal _attacks going on we've had to call in a little bit of extra help from a friend of mine. He's an expert in these kind of situations. His name is Damon Salvatore, and he will be staying with us for a while."

Bella froze. "_Staying _with us?" Bella repeated. Charlie nodded. "For how long?"

Charlie shifted in his chair. "It's not been decided yet." Bella groaned, putting her head into her hands. Breakfast was now forgotten. "Don't be like that Bella. I want you to welcome him into our home—be nice and _don't _shun him out. He's doing a big favour to our town so he should be treated with respect. So when he comes here, I want you to make him welcome and show him around Forks—help him get used to Forks and answer any questions he has. Am I understood?"

Bella pulled herself to her feet. "Yeah whatever." She grabbed her rucksack and peered through the window. She sighed in relief. "Jess is here, I'll see you tonight." Bella grumbled and rushed out of the house as quick as she could. Jess was waiting in the car, listening to the radio, nodding her head and drumming her fingers on the wheel.

"Morning Baby Bell." Jess brightly said to her best friend and glanced at her. "Hey, why the grumpy face?"

Bella shook her head, fastening her seatbelt. "Just go—I'll tell you on the way to school. You've got to hear this."

***.*.***

**A/N:  
**Thanks for the reviews so far, they are awesome. Keep them coming!  
As you notice everything in Forks is a little AU, so don't expect people to be as they are in the books. You probably already notice that Jessica & Bella are nothing like they are in the books... sorta. I wanted to make the two of them a little different from how they are portrayed usually. So Bella isn't exactly the somewhat recluse as she is in the books; she's a bit more of a free-spirit. But she has some secrets that you'll find out soon enough! :)


	6. VI

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Jess shook her head in disbelief as she parked her Ford in the nearest empty parking space. "That just doesn't make sense." Jess said, cutting off the engine, turning to her best friend. "How can all those killings be from _one _animal? Never before have we had a report of animals coming into town and attacking someone to the brink of death—or in some people's cases, actual death." Jess and Bella straightened their cheer uniform before stepping out of the car.

Bella shrugged as she slung her rucksack over her shoulder. "Well, we don't know that. I mean the attacks could have been covered up to stop people from worrying." Bella mulled it over, biting her lip for a while. Jess looked at her doubtfully and Bella sighed. "I just feel bad for doubting Dad and his work; I mean, he is right; it isn't any of my business—it's the matter the police should be dealing with and the police alone." Bella shook her head and sighed. "But… the killings their just so…"

"Mysterious." Jess supervised and Bella nodded. They were walking across the parking lot that was filled with people talking to one another—the usual chatter heard and seen at Forks High. "But I'm curious about this _expert _coming to live with you. Why does your Dad have to get someone to come lend a hand? Why would he need a lend in hand to catch and kill an animal?" Jess questioned suspiciously as they walked through the double entrance doors and into a hallway clustered with people around their lockers.

Bella bit her lip. "Dad said that he has experience in situations like this."

"So he must be from animal control or something." Jess shrugged as they reached their lockers. Their lockers were right next to each other after being requested by Jess to Mrs. Cope. Jess found it annoying going down the hall and back to talk to her while needing to put her books away. It made sense this way; they always met each other outside their lockers at the end of the day for cheer practice.

Bella put her pin into the dial lock. "Maybe. Dad really didn't say much else about him; only that his name was Damon Salvatore." Bella opened the locker door and began to unload books from her backpack. Jess opened her locker door and began to sort through her books before perfecting her make-up in the mirror on the locker door.

"_Damon Salvatore?_" Jess said in a purring voice. Bella laughed. "He sounds like a fictional character. With a name like that he may be hot." Jessica looked at Bella, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Bella rolled her eyes and slapped her shoulder. Jess yelped and rubbed her shoulder, laughing under her breath. "But then again, if he's a friend of your Dad's friend, then he's probably like 40 odd and greying." Bella laughed at that as Jess shuddered. "Bella, you're going to have to share a house with _two _old men. Yikes."

Bella smacked Jess round the back of her head with a book. "Don't you dare; I'm already uncomfortable enough having someone come stay with us—don't make it even worse. Or you'll be finding me at your doorstep every night." Jess laughed and shrugged, saying it would be that bad. "_So_ did you make up a decision to the Mike situation yet?" Bella curiously peaked at Jess from the side of her eyes. Jess' shoulders squared.

"Yes." Jess sighed, closing her locker door and turning to her. Bella shortly followed afterwards, leaning against her own. "I thought about it all last night—I could barely go my Trig homework I couldn't stop thinking about it—until finally I came up with a decision… and I called him…" Jess looked down at her feet, shuffling from side to side.

Bella looked at her friend carefully. "What did you decide?"

Jess sighed. "That I didn't want to go through with it." Jess admitted. "I mean, we're only eighteen. We have all the time in the world, right?" Bella nodded in agreement, muttering a 'right'. She and Bella linked arms as they started down the hallway. "And besides, since I was young I've always wanted to have the _real thing_—y'know the romance; the flowers, the cliché things you see in the movies—before I gave _it _up." Jess sucked in a breath. "So I told him I wanted to wait a while and he seemed OK with it…" Just then Bella and Jess looked up and felt their stomachs drop in dread.

There, against the lockers, was Mike Newton locking lips with Jennifer Ford, a cheerleader, and Jess' Biology partner.

"…or apparently not." Jess sarcastically said, her voice filled with venom, her eyes prickling with tears. "I'll see you in English; I'm going to the bathroom to puke." Jess said in a clipped voice, turning around on the spot and walking away from Mike and Jennifer making out against the locker. Bella turned, opening her mouth to call for Jess to wait up, but Jess had already disappeared and Bella was left alone in the hallway feeling sorry for Jess and what they had just walked in on.

She sighed, adjusted her rucksack, and started to make her way to homeroom. When she looked out of the window, across the parking lot, she could have sworn she saw someone standing in the middle of it—a dark figure that was staring at her. But when she blinked and looked back out onto the parking lot, the figure wasn't there anymore and rain had begun to pour.

Things around here really _were_ getting mysterious.

***.*.***


	7. VII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

The school day passed and Bella hadn't seen Jess once; not even during lunch, where they usually sit together away from the crowd of people, eating their lunch whilst Jess mocks Lauren and the other people in the popular crowd. By the time the ending bell signalling lunch was over rang, Bella was worried. She went to Biology class and sat at her lonely table at the back of the classroom and eagerly waited for Jess to turn up, rushing through the doors as Mr. Banner started his class. But Jess didn't show and Bella was beginning to get worry.

It was during Gym that her worry really began to show.

"Don't worry Bella," Angela Webber a kind girl who ran the school paper tried to comfort her. Since Jess wasn't there, Angela had kindly opted to be Bella's partner for the class. But Angela soon found out that Bella was not in the exercising mood; every few minutes, Bella would be looking out of Gym doors waiting to see Jess run through the doors announcing her apologies. Yet as the Gym class wore on slowly like the Biology, Spanish, and Government, Jess still failed to run through into the room.

"I'm sure Jess has just got ill and gone home early or something." Bella wanted to protest Angela's simple suggestion, telling her that it wasn't that simple; that Angela hadn't seen the way Jess reacted to Mike's cheating. Bella's eyes flickered across the room at the mental mention of his name; Mike Newton was playing with the ball, laughing and jeering with his friends. Every so often, Jennifer (who happened to be in her Gym class) would call his name and flirt with him across the room.

Mike was completely oblivious to Jess' absence and it made Bella furious. So Bella made sure to _accidentally _hit Mike on the back of the head with a basket-ball. When Mike looked around to see who it was, Bella turned back around to a giggling Angela, and picked up another ball by her feet. Throughout the last few minutes of the lesson, Bella made sure to hit Mike on the back of the head several more times. By the end, Mike was frustrated that no-one would own up to who was hitting him and Angela was practically in hysterics from laughter.

"Dude, I think you're imagining things…" Tyler Crowley said to Mike as they walked into the boy's changing room.

Mike let out a huff of frustration. "No! I'm serious—I got hit like _five _times on the back of the head. I felt it! Connor, Ben, Eric—you saw it right? You saw the balls hit me on the back of the head, right?" Bella and Angela giggled as they slipped into their changing room and went to their clothes. Bella, as quick as she could, changed into her cheer outfit again, shoving her clothes into her bag and said a quick goodbye to Angela. Angela smiled at her and waved before going off to meet Ben Cheney, her two-year boyfriend and article writer of the school's paper. But Bella knew full well that Ben only joined the paper to get close to Angela.

Bella went straight to her locker in hope to see Jess standing at their lockers, waiting for her impatiently as usual. But she wasn't; the space where Jess would usually be standing was empty and Bella was starting to worry even more. She could fathom what could have happened to Jess. Where could she have gone? A horrible feeling flooded through her body as she thought of Jess, in the hospital, attacked like all those other people. Bella was slowly starting to panic.

Trying to keep herself calming, telling herself she'd give Jess five more minutes, she unloaded her books into her locker. She unloaded the last one when she heard a voice that made her sigh in relief.

"Bella!" Jess' voice sounded down the hallway. Bella turned around to see Jess rushing towards her, hair everywhere and cheer outfit on. "I'm here, I'm so sorry I ditched you today but I have so much to tell you!" Jess breathlessly said as she quickly shoved her books into her locker. She looked like she had ran a marathon; her cheeks red and her chest heaving, her hairline a sheen of sweat. "You will not believe the things I have found out today." Jess slung her backpack back onto her back. "C'mon; let's go before Lauren rips us a part for being late."

Jess grabbed Bella's arm and began to drag her down the hallway, towards the field out of the Gym.

"Jess—what's going on? What did you find out?" Bella said suspiciously.

Jess and Bella walked into the changing room filled with cheerleaders getting ready. "You know how I said I was going to go to the toilet?" Bella said, narrowing her eyes. "Well I did. I sat in a stall for a while, thinking about everything that happened today—thinking about ways I could get dirty revenge on Mike Newton." Jess spat out his name. "When I started thinking about this Damon Salvatore. I just couldn't get it out of my head how strange Charlie wanted to hire someone to lend a hand. So I went to the library…"-

"That'll be a first." Bella snickered.

Jess rolled her eyes and continued-"…and I did some research on this _Damon Salvatore_." Jess sucked in a breath and leant forward. "This Damon Salvatore? He doesn't even _exist! _Something's going on here, Bella. Something really odd…"

***.*.***


	8. VIII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Oh c'mon, Bella!" Jess whined as they walked back into the changing rooms after two hours of intense cheer practice. Lauren was even harsher than usual to the point that Katie Marshall ran off crying. Though Lauren didn't seem in the least bit apologetic when a red-eyed Katie returned with the cheerleader Lauren had sent to get Katie. "You have to admit it's weird! Why would someone not _exist_?" Jess huffed as she and Bella picked up their rucksacks and headed out into the shadowed parking lot.

After admitting to Bella that Jess had found no record of Damon Salvatore, Bella still failed to believe anything odd about it. Because it was just too bizarre. How can someone not exist? It was impossible. Bella sighed and shook her head, adjusting her backpack straps. "OK, I admit, it is weird—but it doesn't mean it isn't explainable." Bella quickly added when Jess smiled in success. "There could be so many reasons why this Damon Salvatore wasn't on the records; maybe he was born overseas; maybe he was going under a fake name."

Jess rolled her eyes as they reached Jess' Ford. "Why on Earth would someone who hunts rabid animals use a fake name?" Jess and Bella hopped into Jess' car and she started the engine just like yesterday.

Bella shrugged while putting her rucksack onto her lap. "Maybe he's an illegal immigrant; he could have used up his visa. So many illegal immigrants pick up fake identities." Jess was looking at her with disbelieving eyes. Bella sighed. "Oh c'mon, it makes sense—his name is Italian, isn't it?" Bella held up her hands. Jess turns out of the school. "Oh, could you drop me off at The Lodge, please? I managed to persuade Cora to change my shift for two hours later."

Jess pursed her lips and snorted. "Unfair; I called her up to tell her about the cheer practice and she practically hung up on me." Jess then shook her head and waved her hand. "I'm just not convinced, Bella. There is something really funny about this—something just…" Jess huffed when words failed her. "Y'know my parents have _banned _me from reading the _Seattle Times_ now?" Bella raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, actually banned me from reading a freakin' newspaper. They were so freaked out when they saw me reading the article yesterday they practically threw a fit. Mom ran to her room in tears." Jess shook her head. "I refuse to believe this is just an animal attack. Why would Mom freaked out like that if it was just some stupid mountain lion snooping around too close to town?" Jess sighed as she pulled into The Lodge.

"OK, I agree that how your parents reacted was weird, but I refuse to believe something is going on with this Damon Salvatore." Bella exhaled deeply. "Dad seems to have trust in him, so I do to." Bella shrugged nonchalantly, pulling herself out of the door and closed it behind her.

Jess leant across the car to look at her through the open window. "You're really going to be like this, huh?" Bella nodded stubbornly. "Fine." Jess breezily said, waving her hand around her. "Be like that, but I'm not changing my mind."

"I wouldn't expect you to." Bella smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jess."

Jess waved. "Try and get Cora to like me again, will ya?" Jess called as Bella walked into The Lodge. Bella laughed, nodded and waved Jess off as she pulled out of The Lodge's parking lot. Bella sighed and walked into the diner. The grill was filled with the usual people that when Bella passed them, said their hello. In this town, everyone knew who Bella was because of Charlie, and Bella was used to it now—but there was a time that it really made her feel uncomfortable.

"Hi honey." Cora greeted Bella with a smile. "Y'all OK?" she said reaching over to give Bella a kiss on the forehead. Since Bella was little, Cora had been waitressing here at The Lodge. Throughout the years she became the Head Waitress. Bella knew Cora well since because Charlie could never cook, he would always end up taking Bella to The Lodge. Cora offered her a job without even letting her interview when Bella admitted she was looking for a job. Bella had to admit she liked working here; it was ten times better than working at Newton's Olympic Outfitters, that's for sure.

"I'm fine thanks, Cora." Cora smiled at Bella in a motherly way that always made Bella wonder if her mother would have smiled at her like that, and patted Bella's back before Bella rushed into the back rooms and into the staff toilets to change into her uniform. She dressed into her forest green blouse and her waist-high skater black skirt and into her black flats. She brushed her hair back into a black Alice-band and put her forest green apron around her waist, stuffing in her notepad and pen. She headed out and put her things in her worker locker.

Cora was serving costumers behind the bar when Bella walked out.

"Oh honey, you've got a costumer—right at the back. The young man in the black hoodie."

Bella nodded, looking up to see a young man in a black hoodie, face half-covered by the menu. Bella pulled out her notepad and pen and made her way over to her costumer. Bella sucked in a breath and put on her sweet work-voice and welcoming smile. "Welcome to The Lodge—what can I get for you?" Bella smiled as the costumer pulled the menu away from his face. He was good looking—a good looking that was almost boyish, except his deep brown eye screamed otherwise. His hair was styled perfectly and a deep brown, his features were in good potion and his cheeks were indented with dimples as he smiled at her. He looked at least her age give or takes a few years.

"I don't know, what do you have to offer?"

Bella was taken aback by the accent. It was British, or at least what she thought was British. It was old, rustic. Something you definitely do not hear around here in little old Forks; the bigger cities, most probably, but not around here. Bella had to gather herself up for a few moments before she answered. "Erm… well, we have today's special—creamed tomato soup with freshly picked basil. And we have the…"

"I'll have that then." He interrupted with a lopsided smile.

Bella blinked. "Oh… OK then. Good choice. Would you like a drink with that?" Bella shivered as his eyes wandered up and down Bella's body. She didn't like the way that he looked at her—it was almost like she was a piece of meat.

"I'll have a coffee." He said, handing her the menu with the same smirking smile.

Bella took the menu. "OK, then. I'll be right back with your order."

"Please do. I'm in quite a hurry." The man flashed her his perfect set of pearly white teeth. Bella nodded shakily and headed to the kitchens to deliver his order. Cora apparently was watching the whole scene and leant over to whisper to her as Bella made his coffee.

"Who the hell is that piece of man candy?" Cora whistled, Bella laughed, telling her that her husband wouldn't want to hear that. Cora waved her off dismissively. "Oh hush you. You don't know how many times I have come home to Bill and his boys talking about girls and their assets. Believe me when I say, Bill wouldn't care in the slightest." Bella laughed again and shook her head. "I can't say I've seen him around before. Did he say much to you?"

Bella shook her head. "Nope. Though he had a very distinctive British accent—at least, I think it was British."

"From Britain, you say? Well that makes it a whole lot better." Cora drawled, licking her lips. Bella nudged Cora and stared at her pointedly. "Oh come off it, don't you find him in the least bit attractive?" Bella looked over her shoulder and shivered when she realized the man was watching her.

"No actually." Bella answered Cora. "In fact, he gives me the creeps. The way he was looking at me made me feel like he wanted to eat me." Bella shivered again at the memory of the look. When she glanced at him again, his face was turned to the window and Bella could have sworn he was laughing at something. She turned back to Cora who was looking at her with a perked eyebrow. "Seriously; it made me really uncomfortable."

Cora flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Well, don't let your father hear that—he'll be whipping out his gun quicker than lightening, girl. Besides, I have you know a lot of girls _like _to be eaten." Bella slapped Cora's arm and Cora laughed it off, walking away to serve customers. Bella shook her head thinking how Cora barely acted her age and when she looked back at her costumer, she couldn't help but notice the dark figure in the parking lot had been wearing a black hoodie—or more like the figure in the parking lot she had imagine.

She sighed and returned to work, shaking her head out of her thoughts.

***.*.***

**A/N:**

Keep the reviews coming guys! Tell me what you think so far.

Just to answer a few questions: this story isn't set in New Moon timeline. In fact, it isn't following the Twilight timeline at all. Bella's been in Forks all of her life and became friends with Jess at an early age. The Cullens have never turned up at Forks. Bella knows nothing about The Cullens and hasn't had any romantic involvement with Edward. In fact, she's pretty much a relationship-virgin in some aspects. Though if you want the Cullens to be in the story, say so in the reviews below and I will see what I can do. I know quite a few people hate them being in the story so I've left them MIA for now :)

P.S. I wonder who that strange/handsome British cosumter is... Hmmm...

Review below!


	9. IX

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Fifteen minutes later, Bella was steadily walking over to where the strange man sat waiting. He looked up as soon as he saw Bella walk up to him. Bella gave him an uncomfortable when his dimples and wicked toothy smile returned. "Here's your order." Bella mumbled as she placed the plate and cup of coffee down. Bella heard a strange sniffing noise and looked up at him. She could have sworn he had _sniffed _her. Shaking the thought away, Bella leant back up and uncomfortable shuffled on her feet. "Is there anything I can get you?"

"How about a date?" the man continued to smile at her with the same smile as before. It was making her more uncomfortable by the minute.

Bella eyebrows furrowed. "N-no, I was talking about food or…"

"I know what you were talking about." The man said, his eyes rolling her up and down again. Bella could have sworn the man's eyes lingered on her neck for a second or two longer than it should. "You see I'm new here in town and I'm looking for someone to show me around." His deep brown eyes glinted up at her with emotion that made the hairs at the back of Bella's neck stand upright. "You could just be the girl." His lips twitched upwards in an almost smirk.

Bella shook her head. "U-um no, thank you…" Bella's eyes looked upwards when she heard the entrance door ring. Bella almost sighed in relief when she saw her Dad, followed by Deputy Mark and Jess' Dad, Officer Stanley, walk through into the diner. Bella turned back to the man who was watching the relief that flooded through Bella's expression. "Well if there's nothing else you wanted…" Bella rushed off towards her Dad, who was settling into a booth with his co-workers.

"Dad." Bella breathlessly said, smiling.

Charlie looked up, startled, and smiled. "Oh hey Bells—wasn't aware you were working today." Bella shrugged and turned to Deputy Mark and Officer Stanley, the three of them exchanged their pleasantries. "Long day today, we thought we'd come here and get ourselves something to eat." Charlie explained his and his co-workers presence, though his smile looked slightly uneasy.

"Dad, you don't have to explain anything…" Charlie's shoulders squared along with Deputy Mark's and Officer Stanley's. "…I know you sneak in here to have a steak." Bella said rolling her eyes. "I've found dozens of The Lodge receipts when washing you uniform." Charlie, Mark and Stanley laughed, but Bella could help but feel something was off about it. They looked almost relieved… for the third time in fifteen minutes, Bella shook her head out of her thoughts again. "Anyway, what can I get you all?"

The three listed off their orders—Charlie barely even having to say a word before Bella wrote down the steak and fries—and Bella said she'd be back with their drinks in a few minutes. Bella headed to behind the counter where Cora was still serving drinks and meals. Cora looked up and smiled at Bella as she passed and gave the cook the order through the hatch.

"So where did the man candy go?" Bella looked confused and Cora pointed to the table where the strange man had been. Bella looked up to see the table was empty and the bowl of soup was untouched. For a moment Bella assumed he had just gone to the bathroom, except when she looked closer she could see a few bundles of dollar bills sitting on the table next to the untouched coffee.

Bella scoffed, putting her hands on her hips. "He didn't even touch his food!" Bella looked at Cora pointedly. "I told you he was weird."

Cora laughed and shook her head. "Don't worry honey; you get lotta weird men around here—an' my husband is one of them." Bella rolled her eyes. "But I'm sure he just had to leave to do something or an' other." Cora shrugged. "Want me to take over your father's table while you sort out the bills?" Bella shook her head and went over to sort out the bills before heading back to the counter where she did Charlie and his co-worker's drinks.

When Bella walked over to Charlie's table, the three had their heads together and talking quietly to one another. Bella knew it was none of her business to listen in, especially after the way Charlie spoke to her this morning, but her ears perked up when she heard 'Damon Salvatore' amongst the words they knew at each other in low whispers and found herself opening her mouth before she even acknowledge what she was doing.

"You're talking about Damon Salvatore?" Bella blurted out making the three's head snap up. She cursed to herself inwardly and spoke again. "Maybe once he arrives we can finally get rid of this animal situation." Peeking a look at Charlie, Bella noticed he looked relieved with what Bella said. Bella mentally patted herself on the back for the quick save and passed the drinks around.

"How do you feel about having another member in the house, Bella?" Mark said, smiling at her politely. Mark was a nice man, barely in this thirties with a wife that was about to have their first child within the next few months. Charlie would always mention how excited Mark was for his child to come. It always made Bella wonder what Charlie was like when her mother was expecting her.

Bella smiled back and shrugged. "Alright, I suppose. If it's going to help get rid of this animal problem, then he can stay as long as he likes." Charlie smiled at her proudly, happy to see she had come to her senses; though Bella could hear Jess' voice nagging at her from the back of her head. "So Dad, this Damon Salvatore—where is he from?" Bella asked in what she hoped was a casual voice.

Charlie's eyebrows furrowed. "Virginia. Why?"

Bella shrugged. "Well, he sounded Italian; I wondered whether I should make Italian when he comes to make him feel more welcome."

"That's nice of you, Bella." Officer Stanley said.

Charlie smiled at her with even more pride. "Well, Bells, I don't think he's Italian; from what Liz said, he was born and raised in Virginia, in a small town called Mystic Falls. You remember Liz, right? She visited a few times when you were little. She had a daughter called…"

"Caroline." Bella interrupted. "Yeah, I remember." Bella forced herself not to frown at the mention of Liz Forbes' daughter. Back when Liz would visit Charlie in Forks, she would bring along Caroline in hope for Bella and Caroline to become friends. However, Caroline had a complete different idea in mind. In Bella's opinion she was very spoilt and whenever Bella suggested they did something, Caroline would always manipulate her into doing what she wanted. Bella didn't see it as manipulation at that age until she was much older and looked back on her childhood memories with her.

Charlie nodded. "We should invite Liz and Caroline over to stay sometime. It'll be nice to see how Caroline's turned out—right, Bella?"

"Right." Bella hoped that Caroline had grown up for the better. "Well I'll see you at home Charlie."

Charlie, Mark and Stanley shared a look. "Actually Bells, I'll wait for you to finish your shift. It's not a good time to be walking back home in the dark on your own."

***.*.***


	10. X

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

That morning Charlie left for work an hour earlier than usual. He left a note to Bella telling her he had left early, a habit he usually does when he's called into work early, and left in his cruiser to work. As he drove to work, he was feeling more anxious than the past few days he had been driving into work. Today was the day Liz's council member, Damon Salvatore, came to Forks. Liz had given Charlie the mystery man arriving in Forks today his number, though when Charlie tried to call him, he was welcomed with an answer-machine. So he left a voice-message telling this Damon to meet him at Forks station as soon as he arrives in Forks.

Charlie only hoped that he had gotten the message as Charlie parked in his usual reserved spot outside the police station, next to the other cruisers. Charlie acknowledged that Deputy Mark and Officer Stanley had already arrived, their cruisers parked next to each other as Charlie parked his next to Mark's. So far, it is only Deputy Mark and Officer Stanley that Charlie has trusted with the _you-know-what _issue. Out of the twelve officers (not including Mark and himself) in the police station, only Officer Stanley knew of what was causing the attacks. And until worst comes to worst, that was how Charlie was going to keep it.

"Morning, Chief." Officer White said, smiling brightly, flashing her pearly white teeth. Officer White had been working here for almost five years now and was in her mid-thirties. She was the youngest sister of Shelly Cope, Forks High's sectary. She had long red hair that she normally pinned back in some sort of do. She was dimmed as a bit of a flirt, which meant she didn't get along well with Officer Wells, the other female officer in Forks Police Station.

Charlie smiled at the woman uneasily. "Morning, Officer White." She smiled even wider and thrusted something towards Charlie. Charlie looked down to see a mug of coffee in her hands. "Oh, thank you, Officer White." Across the office, Mark was watching the display with a smirk on his face that Charlie planned to smack away as soon as possible. He took the coffee mug as quick as he could and made his way towards Mark and Stanley. Stanley had his nose buried in files whilst Mark was snickering behind pursed lips. "Not another word from you, Deputy, or I'll dock your wages."

That shut Mark up, Charlie thought to himself proudly as Mark recovered himself quickly. "Stanley, Mark, follow me to my office. We have work to discuss…" Mark and Stanley nodded and followed Charlie down the corridor to where Charlie's sectary, Lillian, was sitting tapping away at the computer. "Morning, Lillian. How's the kids?" Charlie said pleasantly as he passed.

The young woman looked up and smiled. "Morning, Chief! They're great! Kenny has finally got rid of his chicken pox. He's probably parading around school right now showing off his battle scars." Charlie, Mark and Stanley laughed before heading into the office. "Oh, Chief! You have a visitor." Charlie looked around at Lillian. "He's in your office now."

Charlie stepped backwards. Mark and Stanley looked at each other. "You let him into my office?"

Lillian's eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Yeah… I… I must of." Lillian shook her head. "He said his name was Damon Salvatore, sir. You were expecting him…?" Lillian looked slightly flustered as she said his name, her cheeks tinting pink and her eyes widening. The look was quite odd, before now Lillian was all business; Charlie chose Lillian for her extreme sense of professionalism.

Charlie's shoulders squared. "Yes, yes. Well, thank you Lillian." Charlie said casually. He shared at look with Mark and Stanley when Lillian turned away, back to the computer, resuming her previous work before Charlie had arrived. Charlie headed straight through into his office that he and Mark had been sitting in just two days ago. Charlie scanned the room and his eyes immediately landed on a tall figure with his back turned to him. He was tall, just as tall as some of the Quileute boys, and wearing a leather jacket with hair as black as the night.

Charlie didn't speak until the door shut behind Stanley. "You must be Damon Salvatore."

Damon Salvatore turned around and for a moment the three officers had to compose themselves as they looked at his young features and his devilish smile. "And _you _must be Charlie Swan—sorry, _Chief _Swan." Damon impishly said, his blue eyes twinkling as he took in the three officer's shock. His smirk widened, clapping his hands together and began to rub them. "So what are we waiting for?…Let's get vampire hunting."

***.*.***


	11. XI

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Today's the day!" Jess sang the next morning as they walked of Spanish class. Bella was dragging behind her, nervously twiddling with her rucksack strap. For the past few hours she had been debating whether to tell Jess or not about what she had discovered about this Damon Salvatore, whom was born and raised in Mystic Falls. "So how are you feeling? Excited to be meeting your new roomie?" Jess teased Bella as they approached the cafeteria for lunch. Through Bella's mental debate, Bella shot Jess a glare. "Don't be like that Bella; who knows maybe this new roomie will be more willing to tell you about these _animal attacks._" Jess snorted, looking around them at the few people who were eavesdropping into their conversation. "Oi, don't you have something better to do?"

Most people quickly looked away, ducking their heads flustered, and quickened their pace into the cafeteria block; while others merely rolled their eyes looked away, resuming their conversation with their neighbours. Jess shook her head and turned back to Bella muttering "_douchebags_" under her breath. Bella bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at her best friend's antics as they walked into the cafeteria. People were already ling up at the food area and spilling around the tables nearest the 'populars'.

Following the crowd, Bella and Jess joined the queue at the food area and drifted along the crowd. Jess filled Bella in on the tense atmosphere at her house—how her Mom is constantly jumping at the smallest noise made at the door or in the yard, and how her Dad refused the family to talk about the attacks going on around Forks; they have even got rid of the _Seattle Times _from the house after Jess' ban. Bella was suddenly thankful that Charlie was still letting her read the _Seattle Times_.

"(…)The next thing I'll know I'll probably have metal bars on my window. I mean it's ridiculous; the way Mom and Dad are acting is ridiculous. I mean, could they be more obvious about the whole thing? They could at least have the decency to act it up a bit and pretend it is an animal attack." Jess rolled her eyes as she grabbed a slice of pizza and salad. Bella picked up a BLT sandwich, an apple and a bottle of orange juice.

Bella chewed on her lip as Jess said this; as Bella expected, Jess was very much persuaded everything going down in Forks wasn't animal attacks. How would she react when Bella told her that her new "roomie" was in-fact born and raised in the States and her research had been… well… right? There _was_ no Damon Salvatore recorded, and if Jess found out from her, Bella knew Jess would take this a step too far. Besides there was still explanations to why this Damon Salvatore wasn't legally recorded to exist; the possibility that he had changed his name still hasn't been ruled out; and Charlie only assumed that Damon was born and raised in Virginia, he could have been mistaken.

Jess sighed deeply as the two of them sat down at their lonely table at the back. No-one ever sat at this table, mainly because it was on the opposite end from where the populars sat, and in this high school, people were just as obsessed with keeping up their popularity status—well a part from Bella and Jess. From the beginning they have always stuck together from the first day of Elementary school and vowed to each other they wouldn't let themselves fall into the popularity bandwagon. It wasn't until Jess and Bella became cheerleaders that they both became a little more popular in the crowd.

"You're quiet today." Jess broke Bella out of her thoughts. She was looking up at her, munching on her slice of pizza, with a suspicious look in her eye. Bella merely shrugged, hoping the subject was dropped, but she should have known better when it came to Jess. "OK…" Jess put down the pizza and folded her hands on the table. "Spill, Isabella Marie Swan." Bella opened her mouth but paused when Jess held up her finger. "And don't you dare simplify—don't you think I don't know you and how you work, Bella. Details. Spill. Pronto."

If there was something else that Jess knew very well about Bella, was that she _couldn't _lying to save her life. Bella huffed in defeat. "I spoke to my Dad last night." Jess raised her eyebrows. Bella ignored the look and picked at the plastic container the BLT sat in. "Well, we were talking about Damon Salvatore and… I couldn't help myself… so I asked him where Damon came from." Jess' eyes sparkled keenly. She was leaning so far into the table, it was lodging into her chest painfully.

"And? What did he say? I bet I was right, wasn't I? The guy _is_ a mystery." Jess excitedly hissed.

Bella winced. "Yeah, you were right." Jess let out a hiss of success and pumped her fist. Bella chose to ignore it. "I asked him where Damon came from—making up an excuse of wanting to cook him a cuisine from his homeland—and he said that he was born and raised in Virginia, in some small town called Mystic…" Bella paused in thought. "…Mystic F…"

"Mystic Falls?" Jess questioned lowly. Bella clicked her fingers at the name and nodded. "Yeah, I know the place." Jess said, picking up some of her salad and began to munch on it. "I have family other there on my Mom's side—my Mom's brother. He's the pastor other there." Jess thoughtfully chewed on her lettuce. "Maybe I could give them a call and ask them about this Damon Salvatore."

Bella shook her head firmly. "No, Jess." She said. "Don't. We haven't even met the guy! He could be completely normal with a simple excuse to all this!"

Jess huffed. "But…"

"No." Bella interrupted. "Give the guy a chance to even show himself in this town before you start making judgements and phone-calls across the country." Bella looked at Jess' stubbornly set face and sighed deeply. "Please Jess?" she pleaded hopefully.

"Fine. I'll give this dude a chance but if he gives me the creepers, I'm so calling my Uncle and doing some investigating of my own." Jess smirked at Bella and shoved the last of her pizza into her mouth. Bella rolled her eyes and tucked into her BLT, happy to the somewhat deal she had made with Jess. "Ugh." Jess suddenly said in disgust. Bella looked up, sandwich in hand, and noticed she was looking across the cafeteria—at something. Bella blinked and looked to see what Jess was staring at; Mike and Jennifer, making out—Jennifer was on Mike's lap. The two of them were sitting at the popular table with Lauren and cronies. "Could they be anymore disgusting?"

"I'm sorry." Bella said softly to her friend.

Jess snorted and shook her head. "I'm not." Jess angrily stabbed her fork into her salad. "It's made me see that whatever I had with Mike was complete and utter fake." Jess stabbed her salad again. "He wasn't worth the time and effort I gave him; and to think, I risked my position at my job to make out with him and his disgusting mouth behind the school bleachers—_school bleachers_!" Jess shoved the salad clumped on the end of the fork into her mouth. "And to think, I was _this _close to giving him my virginity. What if I had? He probably would have made out with Jennifer in front of the lockers the next day anyway. He's a dick." Bella winced as Jess stabbed her fork down again. "I hope Jennifer has crabs and gives him crabs—no, wait, I hope Jennifer has every sexually transmitted disease out there and _gives _Mike every single sexually transmitted disease."

Bella unscrewed the cap on her water bottle. "Y'know I did hear from someone a few months ago that Jennifer got crabs from her college boyfriend at the time."

"You heard that too?" Jess snorted. "Good. It better be true." Jess shot one more glare towards Mike and Jennifer before looking at her food again. "You know what? I'm done with petty little high school boys." Jess grounded out. "I'm done with guys that are just thinking of one thing only—their dick." Jess's eyes narrowed. "As of now, the only guy I'm looking for is a guy that is mature, sensible and actually uses his brain other his dick."

"Good luck with that." Bella snickered as she took a sip of water. Just as she did, Jess threw a cucumber at her that hit Bella's face, making her splutter and water splash down her. "Holy crap, Jess!" Bella picked out a tomato from her sandwich and lobbed it at Jess. Jess laughed, picking the tomato out of her hair. Bella laughed too until a piece of celery hit her face.

***.*.***

******A/N:**

****I made a banner for this story! You can find it on my wordpress blog (link on profile), its under 'My Stories' & scroll down to the bottom :)

Keep the reviews coming everyone! Love reading all your reactions to the chapters. They make me happy.


	12. XII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Looks like you've got yourself quite a situation here, Chief." Damon said, a small smirk curling at the corner of his lips as he looked down at the files and photographs spread across the desk. Charlie was sitting at his chair, Deputy Mark standing close behind him and Officer Stanley was leaning against a nearby wall; Stanley watched as Charlie and Mark filled Damon in on the murders and the cases. "Ten people attacked, seven of which are dead." Damon casually said as if it was the simplest sentence in the world.

Charlie and Mark were watching him with deep caution on their faces.

Damon picked up one of the photographs and observed it. It was of a woman, she looked as if she was in her mid-twenties, and she was sprawled across the floor with her skin corpse white and her neck and t-shirt stained with blood. Her face looked as if she was about to scream, her eyes wide open in pain and fear and her mouth slightly opened. "Are most of them women?" Damon asked as he put down the photograph.

Charlie shook his head. "Four out of the ten were men." one by one, he pointed his finger to the men who were in the same position to the woman in the picture he had observed. Damon nodded. "Why would it matter what gender they were?" Charlie curiously asked. In the past few hours of meeting Damon Salvatore, Charlie was still unsure of what to make of him. He was just so different from what Charlie expected—from what Liz had indicated to him on the phone. The way she spoke of him, the experience he had… well, Charlie didn't exactly picture him looking like this—in retrospect, a bad-boy.

Damon exhaled loudly. "The gender of the killings says something about the killer." Damon picked up two photographs of a female and a male. "The more females could say the vampire enjoys the chase of a helpless, defenceless woman." Damon gestured the photograph with the woman sprawled on the floor. "And the more males like this could indicate the vampire enjoys the easy kill." Damon gestured to the scrawny boy who barely looked in his 20s. Damon placed the picture of the scrawny male down and picked up another one. This one was of a male with bulging muscles. "Or the more men like this could say the vampire likes the fight." Damon placed all the photographs down onto the desk and smirked at the three officers.

Mark crossed his arms over his chest. "You sure know a lot about vampire killings, Mr. Salvatore." Mark narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously.

Damon's smirk widened. "What can I say? It's my job."

Charlie who seemed completely oblivious to the exchange been Mark and Damon was looking down at the killings thoughtfully. "Could this give us a clue of what gender of vampire we're dealing with?" Charlie looked up at Damon. "There are more women—could this mean this vampire is male?"

Damon shrugged and slumped himself down on the armchair opposite the desk. "Maybe, maybe not. Female vampires can prefer to hunt female humans too, y'know." Damon smirked at the Chief, throwing his legs over the arm of the chair. "It's hard to say. It's too early on." Damon shook his head. "Even ten killings isn't enough to see a pattern."

Mark looked disgruntled. "So you want to wait around, watch people get killed, to see what gender of vampire we're dealing with?"

"Deputy Mark – calm down." Charlie commanded Mark, his voice thick with authority.

Damon lounged back on the armchair, completely at ease with himself. "Did I say that? _No._" Damon drawled out the 'no' in a patronizing tone. Mark did not look happy with Damon and Damon noticed.

Charlie shook his head with a sigh and looked at the clock. "We'll leave the discussion here, for now." Charlie said pulling himself to his feet. "We'll continue this at 8 o'clock sharp tomorrow." Charlie looked at Damon. "We'll see what Damon has to offer and consider all the ideas he has." Charlie looks at Mark pointedly. "In vampire situations, we are completely clueless—we _will _need all the help we can get." Charlie said, continuing to stare at Mark. Mark sniffed stiffly and nodded. He and Officer Stanley left the room. It was now just Damon and Charlie. "Well, you've sure made a first impression on Deputy Mark."

Damon pulled himself to his feet, his smirk never wavering. "First impressions are where I do best, Chief."

Charlie resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Well, I hope you don't mind staying with me. The motel in Forks has closed down—apparently the whole place has been decomposing with damp for the past three years. The place has been quarantined just two months ago." Charlie shook his head. Charlie and Damon headed out of the office. Lillian had already left, her computer switched off and her desk organized. "The place is small—we only have two bedrooms, so you'll have to sleep on the couch." Charlie didn't notice Damon's confused face. "Unless you want to bunk with a teenage girl—but I'd highly advise against it; Bells talks more when she's asleep than when she's awake."

Damon's eyebrows furrowed. "You have a daughter?"

"Bella." Charlie grunted. "She's eighteen years old. Prettiest girl you'll ever see." Charlie puffed his chest out proudly. But then cast Damon a look, suddenly becoming more aware of Damon's youthful and strikingly handsome good looks. "Don't you dare get any ideas—you hear me? My daughter is off-limits. And if I find out you've tried to…" Charlie couldn't even finish the sentence, his ears were a fierce shade of scarlet and his face looked almost purple with his anger.

Damon held up his hands, pursing his lips together to stop himself from snickering. "Don't you worry, Chief; your daughter will be completely safe with me." After all, Damon has had enough experience with teenagers back in Mystic Falls to last him a lifetime.

***.*.***


	13. XIII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

After their third cheer practice of the week, Jess and Bella made their way across the parking lot with their rucksack in hand and still donned in their uniform. As usual, Jess spent the whole duration from the changing room to the car complaining about Lauren and her position as cheer captain. Every so often Bella would insert her comments here and there, because that was how it worked; Jess was the fuel to the conversation and Bella was the ignition. It was how their friendship worked.

"And did you see the way Jennifer was glaring at me during practice?" Jess rattled, rolling her eyes at the mere mention of it. "She definitely knows something happened between me and Mike. Whatever." Jess grumbled as they pulled out of the school parking lot and drove down the familiar root towards Bella's house in Jess' Ford.

Bella snickered, shaking her head. "For someone who claims to be over Mike, you sure have a lot of anger." Bella looked at Jess pointedly, eyebrows raised. "It's OK to admit that you liked him, y'know. No-one is going to judge you for what happened and they're not going to judge you for liking him. Mike was in the wrong—not you." Bella told her friend softly. Jess pursed her lips for a long moment. "Jess…"

"Yes, OK—I liked him." Jess grumbled, gripping the steering wheel. "I liked him a lot—or at least I liked the guy I thought he was." Jess sucked in a breath and bushed her hair away from her face. "When we were together, he was sweet." The corner of Jess' lips dropped. "But what does it matter now if I liked him or not? I told him I didn't want to have sex, he lied and then cheated. I made a mistake in liking him and I know now that I should be more careful." Bella opened her mouth to speak, but Jess was quick to changing the subject. "But on better news; I managed to persuade Cora into moving my shifts around—I may be jumping to conclusions, but I think Cora may even being on the road to liking me."

Bella smiled, crossing her arms over chest, saying nothing and leaning back on the chair.

Jess looked at her and smirked. "You had something to do with that, didn't you?"

Bella shrugged. "You asked me to get Cora to like you again—so I may have put in a few good words for you."

Jess shook her head with a smile on her face. "You're actually unbelievable, Bella." Jess reached over and punched Bella lightly on the arm as a show of affection. "Thank you Baby Bell. I owe you one." As Jess said this, she turned her Ford onto Bella's street. "How about a free banana split sundae on the house when you next come to The Lodge—on me." Jess offered with a glint in her sea-blue eyes.

Bella smiled. "As long as you make it how I like it."

"No nuts, extra cream and chocolate sauce." Jess recited from the back of her head without a slip. Bella smiled at Jess disbelievingly. "Oh come on, you really don't think that I wouldn't remember your order after going to The Lodge every Saturday until we turned thirteen." Jess said rolling her eyes. "I hope you remember mine, or I'll be mildly offended…"

"Double judge sundae with extra cream, extra sprinkles and a cherry on top." Bella interrupted with a curt nod.

Jess waved her hand. "See?" Jess moved up to tap her head. "It's up there—even if you don't know it." Jess and Bella laughed as they came to a stop outside Bella's house. It was a small two-bedroom house with white walls, dark forest green windows, and a garage. It wasn't anything extravagant but in Forks all the houses weren't extravagant. "Looks like your Dad isn't home yet. You think he's gone to pick up your new roomie?" Bella shuddered. "What?"

"Referring to him as a roomie just seems…weird." Bella said, shuddering again. "But yeah probably." Bella unbuckled her belt and picked up her rucksack. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jess."

"You bet cha." Jess waved. "And text me as soon as you have met him; I want to know all about this Damon Salvatore." Jess pulled away as soon as Bella began to walk up to her house. As usual, she paused at the plant-pot beside the door, lifted it up, and pulled out the key. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. Just as the driveway, the house was empty; everything was just how she left it yesterday. Bella sighed as she saw Charlie's note still sitting on the kitchen table.

She walked straight over to it and picked up.

_Gone to work early. Picking up Damon Salvatore today. Don't worry; won't be home too late. Love, Dad._

Bella crumpled the paper up in her hands and threw it in the bin. She put down her rucksack in its usual spot and headed straight up to the bathroom; after a long workout at cheer practice, Bella didn't think it would be very welcoming to meet her new 'roommate' with the horrid stench of body odder and sweaty skin. So she headed straight into the bathroom where she took a shower; she washed her hair with her strawberry-scented shampoo and condition before washing her body with her vanilla body wash. Once her body was free of sweat and grime she headed straight to her bedroom and threw her uniform aside, making mental note to wash it in the evening before tomorrow.

Walking over to her closet, Bella rummaged through her clothes looking for something that Charlie would perceive as presentable for their new guest. Most of the clothes Bella owned were jeans and t-shirts—Bella wasn't exactly a dress and skirt kind of girl—but at the back, Bella had a few of her Mom's clothes from when she was a teenager tucked away. Bella hardly wore them, mainly because her Mom owned a lot of dresses and skirts back then. After rummaging for a good few minutes, she finally settled on a red blouse Jess had practically forced her to buy. It was a pretty satin material that ran beautiful over her fingers with smart thrills around the v-shaped neckline and stopped where the button stands began. With the satin material she picked out some of her best jeans—black skinny-leg jeans that fitted her legs comfortably and not skin-tight like most of the girls her age wore nowadays. With the jeans, she plucked out some slightly worn cherry red flats that matched the colour of her blouse.

Once dressed, she walked over to her small vanity that used to belong to her Mom, and opened up her jewellery box that had belonged to her grandmother Marie—whom, her middle-name happened to be named after—and pulled out some jewellery. She put on some simple silver studs in her piercings—again, was something Jess had persuaded her into doing one time in Port Angeles when they were fourteen—and her Mom's necklace.

The necklace was something that she remembered a lot of in her blurred memories of her Mom, mainly because it was so beautiful and you couldn't help but be captivated. Bella liked to keep it in her jewellery box and on occasion she's take it out and stare at it—remember it placed around her Mom's neck and how well the beautiful necklace blended with her Mom's beauty. The necklace was made up of a single strong white-silver chain and hanging on the end of the chain was a beautiful pendent. The pendent was an oval shape with strangely beautiful markings around the edges of the oval made of pure white-silver. And in the middle of the oval was a beautiful red stone. It wasn't a ruby—in fact, Bella had no idea what kind of stone it was. She had taken it to a jewellers once in Port Angeles with Jess and the jeweller too was stumped. No-one knew what the stone was. But nonetheless, it was beautiful.

Bella stared at the necklace for a lingering moment before placing the necklace around her neck.

She then got to work on drying her hair. She dried her damp hair with the blow-dryer and left it in its usual loose ringlets to her waist. She was pulling one last brush through her hair when she heard the sound of movement downstairs, she froze as she heard the door open and close. The grip on her hairbrush tightened but she then relaxed when she heard her Dad's call.

"Bella! We're back. Are you here?"

Bella swallowed, her stomach feeling slightly tense and shouted back. "Coming!" she placed the hairbrush on the side and headed out of her bedroom, along the landing and down the rickety staircase. As she reached the mid-way point at the stairs, her Dad appeared at the bottom dressed in his uniform. He smiled at Bella giving her a approving nod to her attire.

"Bella, come meet our house guest." Charlie held out a hand for her. He placed a hand on her shoulder as she reached the last step and curved her towards the front door where a presence stood. "Bella, meet Damon Salvatore. Damon, meet my daughter Bella."

Bella gasped as her eyes finally set sights on him. Her heart had lurched up into her throat and she almost couldn't speak; all she could see was the familiar handsome face staring back at her with equally shocked eyes. _It couldn't be… _Bella's thoughts wondered dumbstruck. It was… it was the Meadow guy! "Holy Crap." Bella felt the words slip out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

***.*.***


	14. XIV

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Spring of 1998

_Today was one of those rare days where the sun was shining beautifully and warmly down on Forks. It was spring time and the forest was covered in seasonal wildflowers of different colours. Birds chirped merrily in the treetops of the evergreen trees, soaring from one try to another, as reddish orange squirrels scurried up and down the tree trunks. The sun shined through the gaps of the treetops, a soft pale golden glow that alit the leaves and flowers. Through the forest, a mother and daughter walked through the dishevelled forest path happily. _

_The woman was tall with long brown hair in soft waves, her eyes a deep river blue and dangling around her neck was a beautiful necklace with an oval-shaped pendant with the most beautiful red stone in the centre. She was holding the hand of her daughter, a tiny girl with mahogany hair pulled up into curly pigtails in powder blue ribbons. She was wearing a white and blue checked dress and on her shoes were some sparkly red shoes. She was pointing and giggling at the squirrels that scurried across the floor. _

"_Mommy, Mommy – look at the squirrels." The little girl pointed and giggled to her mother, tugging her arm. "And look a butterfly!" she squealed as she looked skywards; her eyes wide and her mouth agape as she stared at the beautiful peacock blue butterfly that fluttered and danced with a butter yellow and ivory white butterfly. The peacock blue butterfly swooped downwards, narrowly missing the little girl. The little girl giggled and attempted to grab the butterfly. The butterfly flew back to the other two butterflies and the three butterflies began to fly away. The little girl ran after it, giggling._

"_Stay close Bella!" her mother called after her but little Bella was already crashing after the butterflies. Her mother sighed, shook her head with a blissful smile, and followed after her. _

_Bella ran through the forest, stumbling on small occasions when she wasn't watching where she was going. The butterflies were flying a head of her, weaving through canopies and over and under branches. But Bella was thoroughly enjoying the chase; she dug her red heels into the forest ground and ran faster after the butterflies. She was soon met with a pretty stream that sparkled silver and golden in the sunlight. She hopped onto the rocks uprooted from the surface and skipped across each one until she reached the over side of the stream. The butterflies were further ahead now and Bella ran faster after them until she found herself crashing out of the forest and into a beautiful meadow. _

_It was large—at least large in a little girl's perspective. The grass reached the top of her white thrill-trimmed bobby socks and the grass was surrounded by beautiful wild flowers with the colours of violet, indigo, white, yellow and baby blue. The butterflies fluttered ahead and landed on a flower. As Bella's large doe-like eyes followed the butterflies land, she finally noticed the person already occupying the meadow. From what the little girl could see, it was a man and he was lying on the meadow ground, dressed in pure black._

_To the little girl's curiosity, she stepped closer to the person laying on the meadow ground, the sound of her feet moving through the ground making a loud rustling noise. Bella stopped just a few feet from him; she could finally see him. He was beautiful; he had dark black hair that reminded Bella of the night-sky that hung just after his ears. His skin was pale and his jaw was square and sharply defined. His eyes were closed and Bella couldn't help but wonder if the man had asleep; he hadn't opened his eyes to her approaching. _

_Was this man homeless like the people Bella used to see on the streets in Port Angeles? Should she give the man money like she sometimes does with her Mommy? Bella bit her lip and awkwardly wondered what to do. _

"_Can I help you?" the man finally spoke. His voice was deep and almost irritated. So he __**was**__ awake. When Bella said nothing, the man cracked open an eye; his eyes were a sharp captivating shade of pale blue and contrasted sharply with his dark hair and dark long lashes framing his eyes. He seemed surprised to see a little girl staring back at him. _

_Bella let her bottom lip out of her baby teeth and looked at the man through her lashes. "Are you homeless like the men on the streets?" she asked shyly. _

_The man smirked at the question. "That depends." The man looked her up and down with his eyes. Bella shuffled on one foot to another. "What's it to you Dorothy?"_

_Bella's eyebrows furrowed. "My name isn't Dorothy." She said, crossing her arms over her chest._

_The man merely rolled his eyes. "Where's your mommy, Dorothy?" his eyes twinkled as he saw the annoyed look in the little girls eyes._

"_That depends." Bella repeated in the man's tone. She unwrapped her arms and put her hand on her hip like how she'd seen her Mommy do it many times before to her Daddy and smirked. "What's it to you, Prince Eric?"_

_The man let out a deep chuckle. "Prince Eric?"_

_Bella stuck up her chin. "It's the name of Prince in My Little Mermaid – the film me and my friend Jess watched yesterday. You look like him."_

"_Very well then Dorothy." The man said and rested back down on the ground, closing his eyes. "So what is a girl who is practically still a toddler doing so far in the forest?"_

"_I'm __**not **__a toddler! I am 5 and half years old. Mommy says I'm a big girl. I even help her cook dinner and that is a grown-up thing so that obviously means I'm a big girl." Bella sassily said, stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest. "And I'm one of the oldest girls in my class. Jess says that because of the oldest I could get away with bossing around Lauren – the mean girl that cut off my other friend Angela's hair with a pair of scissors…"_

_The man waved his hand signalling for her to stop. "Do you ever shut up?" pulling himself up, propping himself onto his elbows to stare at her._

_Bella shook her head, her pigtails shaking with her. "No. My Mommy and Daddy say that I wake them up at night because I talk in my sleep."_

"_I sympathise them." The man drawled. "So why don't you run alone little girl. Go back home and play with your dollies."_

"_I don't have any dolls." Bella crossed her arms over her chest again. "Me and Jess don't play with them because it's what Lauren and her mean friends play with. We play Cops and Robbers…" Bella's eyes lit up. "You wanna play? You can be the robber and I can be the cop. I'm a really good cop 'cause my Daddy is one—he's the Chief. He says when I'm old enough he'll teach me how to shoot his gun, but I'm only allowed to use it on guys who try to give me cooties." Bella scrunched up her nose in disgust. _

_The man snickered and shook his head. "You've got that kinda Dad, huh?" he snickered. "Good luck kid, with your kind of Dad, you won't be losing your virginity anytime soon." Bella's eyebrows furrowed and her lips puckered in confusion but her attention was diverted when she saw the peacock blue butterfly fly up into the air. She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lip in determination and began to run after it. The other two butterflies took flight and followed after the blue butterfly. _

_As soon as Bella was close enough, she jumped in the air and tried to catch them. But she was too small; she dropped back to the ground with a sad whine, shoulders slumped in defeat. Just as the butterflies soared higher up into the sky, Bella heard a whooshing sound that and suddenly the man was in front of her, smirking with his hand outstretched, curled into a fist. _

_Bella looked at the fist, then the man, and then the fist again. She gasped when he turned his hand over and curled his hand open. There, sitting on his palm, was the three butterflies. Bella squealed and scooped them up from his palm. "Thank you Prince Eric!" The man chuckled as he watched the little girl stare at the butterflies in awe. His head snapped up when he heard someone crashing through the forest._

"_Bella!" The panicked voice of her mother called from the forest and moments later her mother came crashing into the meadow. "Bella!" she sighed in relief and rushed to her side._

"_Look Mommy – I have the butterflies! Prince Eric helped me catch them. Mommy meet Prince Eric…" Bella turned around and only noticed an empty space behind her. _

_Her mother pressed a kiss to her forehead and looked at her sternly. "Never run away from me like that again, Bella. You never know what kind of people are in the forest. It's not safe to run off on your own. You could have been dangerously hurt."_

"_Sorry Mommy…"_

_Her mother sighed and took Bella's hand. "Let's go home, Bella. Daddy will be home soon."_

***.*.***


	15. XV

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Bella!" Charlie's scolding voice brought her out of the memory. She blinked and looked around her; she was standing in the foyer, Charlie next to her, and the meadow guy standing just a few metres way from her looking at her with emotions he couldn't describe.

Bella was dumbstruck; could this possible be the meadow guy she met over 10 years ago? They looked practically identical, except now he looked even better looking than Bella's young memory remembered. Though he didn't seem as tall as he once did, perhaps because she was so small back then; he was at least over 6ft. with hair the exact midnight black shade she remembered. His skin was just as pale, flawless and his features were just as perfect. Everything about him screamed bad-boy and dangerous.

"Sorry." Bella mumbled. "You… you just don't exactly look like what I'd expected." Bella blushed furiously, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Salvatore." Bella nervously looked up at him through her lashes and fidgeted with the hem of her blouse.

Damon smirked and held out a hand for her to take. Bella stared at it like it was the most abnormal thing on the planet. " Nice to meet you too, Bella. And please, call me Damon." Damon said in a smooth almost sarcastic voice. "Your father speaks very highly of you." With the look of encouragement from Charlie, Bella carefully stepped forward and took her hand in his. Bella felt her breath leave her when she felt a strange spark of energy travel from his hand to hers. By the looks of things, Damon felt it too. It was the strangest sensation she had ever felt and Bella wasn't sure if she liked it or not. So she quickly shook his hand and dropped, stepping back to her Dad's side.

"I… I should get on with dinner." Bella mumbled and started to rush towards the kitchen, but Charlie grabbed her wrist before she could escape.

"Actually Bella, I thought it would be a good idea to take Damon to The Lodge tonight. Save you to cook and it'll be a great opportunity to show Damon the popular grill in town." Charlie patted Bella's shoulder. "Don't worry, Bella; you'll have the opportunity to show off your cooking tomorrow." Charlie turned and smiled at Damon, who was looking between the two with those captivating eyes. "Damon will be here for a while, after all."

Damon gave Charlie an impish smile. "You bet cha, Chief." Damon turned to look at Bella through scolding eyes. "I am very much looking forward to trying having a _bite_ of your food Bella." Damon gave her an amused smirk.

"Great. We'll go now then—before all the tables fill up. The Lodge is a pretty popular place, huh Bella?" Charlie clapped his hands together and rubbed them. "We'll take the cruiser, shall we?" Charlie walked towards the door.

"Actually Charlie, why don't we take my car?" Damon glanced wickedly at Bella. "Save little Bella here the humiliation of riding in the back behind bars." Damon pulled his keys out and wiggled them on his finger. "As you know Charlie, I have a classic Mustang in mint condition."

Charlie's eyes lit up at the mention of his car. "Yes… well… that makes sense. Let's go then shall we?" Charlie practically ran out the door, eager to sit in the Mustang now parked on the end of the driveway. Bella rolled her eyes skyward; for as long as Bella remembered, Charlie had a fierce obsession with vintage cars. It was the only thing he and his best friend Billy talked about when they saw each other.

Damon chuckled and turned to Bella, holding the door. "After you…" Bella forced out a smile and walked passed him. "_Dorothy._" Damon wickedly murmured in Bella's ear as she passed. Bella's heart thumped erratically in her chest; he knew. It was him. It was the Meadow Guy. Bella sucked in a shaky breath and rushed after Charlie. "I'll lock the door, shall I?" Damon called after her in an amused, sarcastic tone of voice. Bella didn't turn back to him; she rushed straight to her Dad where he stood admiring the car like it was the president of America. If Bella hadn't been so freaked out, she would have rolled her eyes and told him to wipe away the drool.

Bella couldn't do this. She couldn't go to The Lodge with _him_. The entire time would be torture.

"Dad, actually, I think I might not go—I don't feel…" Bella stopped talking. She felt someone directly behind her, cool breath breathing down the back of her neck and clothed chest brushing against her back. Bella turned around and gulped. Damon was standing there, smirking.

"Don't worry Bella, I'm an excellent driver. You can trust me." Damon flashed her his set of pristine white teeth that gleamed in the twilight light.

Bella felt the hairs on the back of her head spring up. She had a feeling she wasn't going to like her new house guest one bit.

***.*.***

**A/N:  
**Keep the reviews going guys! Thank you so much for the people who have reviewed so far and helped me get passed 100 reviews. You're all amazing, you really are :)

Hope you're enjoying Damom and Bella's reunion so far ;)

P.S. Sorry for any spelling mistaks/grammar errors; I get so excited to update that I forget to spellcheck :P


	16. XVI

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

The entire ride was spent with Damon and Charlie talking about his car. Bella sat in the backseat, nervously fiddling with the hem of her shirt, and watching the scenery go by. Charlie was so distracted with the conversation of how Damon came in possession of the car; he didn't even bother to scold him for going over the speed limit. On every occasion, Bella would looked between the two talking, her bottom lip caught between her teeth almost painfully. And every time she'd move her eyes towards the back of Damon's head, she'd find him looking at her through the driver's mirror—staring… smirking.

Bella would quickly look away but she'd still feel Damon's stare on her for a long time as Charlie filled Billy in on the vintage Chevy truck Billy had in his garage.

"(…)Though the shame is he can't ride it anymore. Billy had an accident a few years back that left him disabled; he's in a wheelchair now. He can't even work on it anymore. His son, Jake, spends most of the time working on it nowadays; he's great at mechanical work. Isn't he Bells?" Charlie looked at Bella for the first time for the duration of the ride. Bella groaned in her head when Damon's eyes returned to her. "Bella doesn't like to say much about him; the poor boy has had a crush on her since he was in his diapers." Charlie chuckled deeply. Through the wing mirror, Bella could have sworn she saw Damon's hands tighten around the wheel.

"Dad!" Bella hissed and winced, embarrassed. She felt bad for Jake. There had been a time when they had been as close as her and Jess was, but after Jake made the bold move of confessing his feelings for her, which she didn't return at the time, he hadn't bothered to speak to her again. Bella had tried to contact him a few times in the past few months but hadn't returned her calls. The last Bella heard of him, she was knocking at his house and Billy answered, practically shoving her off the property, telling her that Jake had mono. Somehow Bella couldn't quite believe that Jake had mono.

"There was this one time—Billy and I like to call it _the _incident—when Jake finally decided to tell her he liked her. The two of them had went to the beach in La Push and Jake made the mistake of kissing Bella straight on the mouth. Bella—being Bella—did the one thing everyone least expected her to do. She punched him. Straight to the face. He had a black eye for weeks!" Charlie let out a boisterous laugh. Bella winced at the memory. "Now I don't have anything against Jake—he's a good kid of Billy's—but the funny thing was, Bells here was the one who was worst off. She had to go to the emergency room to get her hand plastered!"

Bella huffed. "It's not funny Dad. Jake hates me now. He hasn't talked to me for months."

Charlie waved his hand off at her dismissively. "That boy is too smitten with you. He couldn't stay away from you for too long even if he tried. He'll be running back to you with his tail between his legs soon enough." Charlie chuckled. "Just turn here on the left, Damon. That's it." Bella still felt Damon's eyes burning into her face as they turned the corner. They were on the road leading up to The Lodge now. "Y'know Damon, you should come down to the La Push reservation one time and meet Billy and Jake. I'm sure they'd love to see your beauty here." Charlie reached and patted the dashboard. "You can tell them the story you just told me."

Damon inhaled a deep breath. "Well that depends, Chief." Damon side-glanced at Charlie. "If we're not too busy with our police work."

Charlie grumbled and nodded. "Right you are, Damon. It's good to see you've got your ball on the game." Charlie peered out the window. "Here we are. Turn in here to the right."

Damon parked in the nearest parking space in The Lodge parking lot. There were quite a few parking spots filled up. Bella sighed and tumbled to unbuckle her belt when she heard her car door open. She shrugged the seatbelt off and looked up to see Damon looking at her, eyebrows rose, holding her car door open to her. Bella mumbled him a quick thank you and got out of the car, only to stumble on her own feet. Bella gasped, preparing herself to fall, when someone grabbed onto her waist. That electric current returned; she didn't have to guess who had grabbed her.

"Steady there, Dorothy. Maybe you should have worn your ruby slippers." Damon murmured in her ear, putting Bella back on her feet.

As soon as she found her balance, she pulled herself from Damon's arms and wrapped her arms around her stomach. Charlie was once again admiring the car and didn't notice the exchange. Bella, Damon and Charlie made their way into the restaurant; it was semi-crowded though as the night drew on, the place would fill. The three of them made their way to an empty booth. Charlie slid in to one side, Damon on the other, leaving Bella to decide. Damon looked at her with his devilish smirk. Bella ignored him, eyes casted downwards, and slid into a seat next to Charlie.

"Welcome to The Lodge, what can I get you… Oh hey Bella, hey Chief Swan." Bella looked up to see Jess smiling brightly at Bella and Charlie in her waitress uniform and notepad in hand.

"Hello Jessica." Charlie smiled at Jess.

Jess rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to remind you, Chief—it's Jess."

Charlie nodded. "Right, yes – of course. It slipped my mind."

"Just as it as its slipped your mind for the past four years, Chief." Jess grinned and winked at Bella who shook her head and smiled back. Having Jess here brought off some of the pressure she felt on her shoulders. Until Jess' eyes moved to Damon sitting across from her that is. Jess blinked at his handsome looks, slowly taken aback. "Sorry, I don't know who you are…" Bella knew that Jess had figured out this was Damon Salvatore, but put it on for appearance purposes.

Damon smirked. "Damon Salvatore."

Jess nodded, her eyes looking at him suspiciously. "Jess Stanley—official best friend of Bella Swan and black belt in karate, willing to go kung-fu on any guys' ass when he tries to hurt my best friend." Bella stifled a giggle when she saw Damon's shocked face. Apparently that hadn't been the reaction he had been hoping for, but then again Jess surprised all. Charlie chuckled and shook his head at Jess' antics.

"I think I might need a name card for that."

Bella groaned putting her head in her hand.

"Well you're just in luck because I happen to have one with me." Jess produced a laminated red and black polka-dot card from her apron pocket and handed it to Damon.

Damon smirked as he read it. "It actually says everything you said, word for word. Impressive."

Jess shrugged and took the name card back, pocketing it. "I made it when me and Bella came up to Forks High."

Charlie nodded. "She gave it out to almost the whole school if I remember correctly."

"How else was I going to get the word across?" Jess nonchalantly shrugged.

Damon smirked at Bella and her flushed face. "Jess… you wouldn't happen to like _My Little Mermaid_ by any chance?" Bella's head snapped up from her hands, looking at Damon with a look of shock. He was smirking up at Jess, who looked just as confused as Charlie at the question.

"Yeah, when I was five." Jess snorted and gave Damon a weird look. She then looked at the table, thankfully oblivious to Bella's shocked expression. "Now what can I get you all?" Charlie went to open his mouth but Jess interrupted. "Steak slice, fries and corn on the cob." Charlie grinned at Jess sheepishly. "With a beer?" Jess wondered, Charlie nodded. Jess wrote it down and then turned to you. "What about you Baby Bell?"

Bella gave her a look with a raised eyebrow. "I'll have the garden burger with salad and cherry soda please."

Jess smiled and wrote that down. "With a complimentary banana split sundae on the house." Jess winked at Bella again.

"You don't have too…"

"Bella – you saved me my job. You're getting the sundae free." Jess turned to Damon, pen on notepad. "And what can I get you?"

"I'll have what she's having… but with a glass of bourbon." Damon answered, leaning back on the booth seat.

Jess nodded and wrote that down. "I'll be back with your orders in a short while." Jess turned and walked away and when she was far out of Damon's sight, she looked back at Bella and mouthed "_Oh my God_!" pointing at Damon.

"So Damon… tell me about yourself; Liz told me you come from Virginia…"

***.*.***


	17. XVII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Right you are, Chief." Damon exhaled, lounging in the booth seat. "I was born and raised in Mystic Falls, a small down a few miles out from Charlottesville. A little bigger than this town—very historic and big on its history." Charlie nodded. "The city dates back to the 1860s where some of the Founding Families that founded the town still have residence in Mystic Falls to this day—in fact, my family was one of them. The Salvatores." Charlie raised his eyebrows up in surprise. "My brother and I were named after the first Salvatore sons."

"You have a brother?"

Damon nodded. Bella looked up curiously through her lashes. The corner of his lips seemed to curve downwards at the mention of him. "He's still in Mystic Falls now." Damon said and glanced towards Bella. Bella looked down at her hands in her lap again. "He's the same age as your daughter, actually—eighteen." Damon casted a smirk at Bella before his face turned emotionless. "I offered for him to come with me to here, but he was very intent on staying in Mystic Falls… with his fiancé." Bella dared to look up again. Damon was now frowning.

Charlie blinked in surprise. "He's already engaged—at eighteen?"

Bella couldn't help but roll her eyes and but in: "What's the big surprise Dad? You were married to Mom when you turned eighteen." Charlie shot her a look and Bella shrugged. Damon was watching the two of them with a smirk still. "I was just saying." Bella grumbled and looked around the grill. There were a lot more people than before now and Bella noticed that quite a few of them were looking at Damon, the fresh meat. And by the looks from the women, Damon was exactly that.

"Yes, well. It's not something I'm surprised about. Stefan… he's a hopeless romantic. A little _too_ hopeless sometimes."

Charlie cleared his throat and changed the subject when he saw the look on Damon's face. "What about your parents? Where are they in all this?"

"Dead." Damon answered bluntly. Charlie's gaze turned sympathetic. Damon shook his head. "Stefan and I were too young to even remember it; we left Mystic Falls as children and returned many years later when Stefan returned for his junior year at high school, being Stefan's only guardian, I was obliged to follow him to Mystic Falls. I entered the Founding Council on behalf of my family name and that is where I met Liz." Damon inhaled deeply. "Liz has been a trusty alliance to me. I owe her a lot."

Charlie nodded. "Liz is a good person and has a good judgement in people." Charlie looked at Damon with a careful eye, examining him.

"Right, of course—Liz mentioned you two were old friends."

"Yes. Liz was training to become a cop at the same time I was. Bella and her daughter are the same age. You would happened to know her daughter by any chance?" Bella and Charlie were both confused by the smirk that lifted on Damon's face at Charlie's question.

"I know Caroline very well. She so happens to be friends with Stefan and best friends with his fiancé." Damon sucked in a breath and shook his head. "Quite a troubled character, she is." Bella pressed her lips together to stop herself from snorting. Damon though seemed to notice the reaction she was trying to hold back. The fact that Damon kept looking at Bella was beginning to make her confused and uncomfortable. Bella looked up through her lashes to see, once again, Damon was looking at her. Except this time he wasn't smirking. He was just…staring…

"Bella, honey." Bella jumped at the sound of someone beside her. It was Cora, she was smiling at her. "I need you to fill out your work schedule for next week on the board. So we don't have any more cheer-practice situations." Cora smiled and glanced at Charlie. "Hey Charlie. My, you are looking slimmer! Bella was right to be keeping you off the steaks!" Charlie blushed and mumbled a thank you in a very Bella-esque manner. Cora's eyes wondered to Damon. "Well hello sugar…"

Bella slipped out the booth before she'll have to listen to Cora flirt. She walked behind the counter and into the staff room, to her surprise Jess was already there, waiting to pounce on her. "Umph…" Bella said when Jess pounced on her. "Jess! What the hell?"

"Tell me everything about this Damon Salvatore! Oh my _Gawd _Bella, he is definitely not a forty year old man with a bold patch for sure." Jess hissed shaking Bella's shoulders. "Bella tell me what the hell is going on between you and that hot-ass specimen!" Jess frantically said, still shaking Bella's shoulders desperately. Bella winced and pried Jess' hands off her.

"Cora didn't really want me to fill out my work schedule for next week, did she?"

Jess stomped her foot. "Bella!" she whined.

Bella huffed. "Fine. He's from Mystic Falls as Dad told me, he has a brother our age whose engaged and is the decedent of one of the founding families that found Mystic Falls." Bella held up her hands in surrender. "And for the record, there is nothing going on between Damon and I—I only met him an hour ago." Bella lied as best as she could.

Jess raised her eyebrows disbelievingly. "Bullshit. Did you see the way that hunk was looking at you? He was practically having sex with you with those gorgeous eyes of his."

"I'm sorry, Jess, but you've got the wrong impression. There's nothing going on with Damon and me."

Jess huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Fine." She said, clicking her tongue. "Oh and by the way… I can't give you a lift tomorrow." Jess breezily said, walking around her towards the door. Bella let out a sound of disbelief, opening her mouth. Jess always gave her lift, in any circumstance. Jess' sea-blue eyes twinkled mischievously. "Sorry Bella but I have a thing to do. Maybe you should ask _Damon _to give you a lift." Jess blew Bella a patronizing kiss. "Oh and Cora did really want you to fill in your work schedule." And with that, Jess was gone.

Bella groaned, letting her head fall forwards until it hit the wall. What the hell was she going to do now?

***.*.***


	18. XVIII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

By the time Bella returned to the booth where Damon and Charlie sat, Jess was there handing out the orders. All three noticed Bella return to the booth and Bella also noticed the look in Jess' eye as soon as she saw Bella return. Bella narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously, giving her a look that said '_what the hell are you up to?_' and slid back into the booth. Bella took a sip from her cherry soda, humming as she tasted it. Bella loved cherry soda. When she looked up, Damon and Jess were watching her with amusement (Charlie was already too engrossed with his steak).

Jess looked down and passed Damon his glass of bourbon. "So Bella, I'm so sorry I can't give you a lift tomorrow." Jess slyly said, the corner of her lips curled upwards. "It's just I have this…" Jess paused. "Doctor's appointment I have to go to." Bella narrowed her eyes; she had a bad feeling she knew where this was going. She decided to play along.

"Oh? How sad…" Bella said in a sarcastic tone of sympathy. "Y'know maybe it's from all that field honkey you've been playing in Mike's mouth." Jess shot Bella a glare.

Charlie looked up as soon as that was mentioned. "Mike Newton? Karen Newton's boy?"

Bella nodded. "Oh yes Daddy." Bella blinked sweetly. "Jess and Mike had this thing. But don't worry, it's not what you think Daddy—Jess was only using him to get to Eric Yorkie." Jess spluttered on her own breath. "Jess has had a _big _crush on Eric since Junior High when Eric accidentally puked on the back of her head at the school carnival." Jess was practically growling as Bella continued. "She's been trying to get his attention for years!"

Charlie looked between Jess and Bella oddly. "…Right…" Charlie said slowly. "Well, I know Mr. Yorkie pretty well—I can speak to him if you want. Try and get you and Eric on a date…" Charlie grinned a toothy smile. Damon was watching the scene happening around him with a smug, amused smile.

"No!" Jess shouted as Bella shouted "Yes!"; Jess glared at Bella but Bella pretended to be ignorant. "She'd love it. She has been waiting for a date with Eric for so long…" Bella smugly took a sip of her cherry soda, enjoying this thoroughly. She really hoped Charlie went through with it and called Eric Yorkie's Dad. Bella knew for a fact Eric had a crush on Jess that was borderline obsessive.

Jess face turned mischievous and turned to Damon. "So Damon, did you know that Bella once peed herself in 7th grade when Tyler Crowley pulled down her skirt and panties during gym class. So everyone in the class saw her pee!" Bella sprayed out her cherry soda; it went right across the table, narrowly missing Damon's arm. "And just for the record, Bella really wants you to give her a lift tomorrow to school." Jess turned to Bella, sticking her tongue out on her and smiled wickedly at everyone else. "Hope you all enjoy your meal…" Jess turned on the spot and strutted away, Bella glaring after her, her face scarlet.

Charlie turned to Bella, his eyebrows furrowed. "So that was why your gym coach called me up asking me if your bladder had a medical condition?" Bella groaned, dropping her head down onto the table with a loud bang. "Huh. It all makes sense now." Charlie muttered to himself. "Mind you, I have the right mind to call the Crowleys for what that boy did to you. Why didn't you tell me, Bells?" Bella groaned again in embarrassment. Charlie reached up and patted Bella's back. "There, there, Bells—don't be embarrassed. We've all had our fair experience with weak bladders. I almost wet myself when Renée told me she loved me I was so happy. It was junior year…"

"No, Dad!" Bella shouted a little too loudly, throwing her head up, glaring at Charlie. "Let's just forget this conversation ever happened. OK? I _never _wet myself in front of my whole gym class." Bella sucked in a breath and dug into her food. She didn't dare look up at Damon but she knew he was laughing silently; she could see his chest vibrating from the corner of her eye. She inwardly groaned, cursing Jess for what she did.

She really hoped Eric got that message from his Dad, even if she has to tell him herself.

Two hours later, the room of them had come to a halting stop outside Bella and Charlie's house. It was somewhat late now, getting on for 9 o'clock. On the way back, Damon and Charlie had plans to watch the football game on the SPN with Charlie's new HD plasma flat screen. Bella, however, was still embarrassed and every much ready to go up to her bedroom to send hate-filled texts to Jess, which she knew Jess will be snickering at when she gets them. Jess could never take Bella seriously, even if Bella really was pissed off at her.

"You not going to watch the game with us, Bella?" Damon said aloud as they walked into the house. Bella was already heading to the stairs.

Bella quickly grumbled: "No. Homework." And rushed up the stairs, stumbling on the top step, before going straight to her room. As she closed the door, she heard Charlie say to Damon: "Maybe I should have told her about the time I wet myself on the camping trip instead." Bella groaned, slamming the door a little too hard, and jumped onto her bed.

Half an hour passed and Bella was through with sending Jess her the texts. Jess replied with one text saying "_I got you a lift to school tomorrow, didn't I? ;)_" which made Bella huff and throw her phone aside. After that she started doing her homework for her AP English Literature class. She was half-way through writing her draft essay on Shakespeare when she heard her door fling open.

"Oh, sorry… I thought this was the bathroom." Bella snapped her head up. Damon was standing there, smirking. He didn't look in the least bit apologetic. Bella's cheeks flushed. Bella waited for Damon to leave, but he didn't. He simply stood there, looking around him—taking in the bedroom.

"Um… the bathroom is through the next door." Bella pointed towards the bathroom door.

Damon didn't move. "Nice bedroom. Very…" Damon looked for a word to say as he took in the rocking chair, the books scattered across the desk, the more books on the bookcase and the lace-curtains on the windows. "…comfy." Damon took in the purple quilt covers she sat on and then finally look at her, eyes dancing. "Is that a dream-catcher?" Damon walked forward and flicked the dream-catcher hanging above her. He looked so at ease it was slightly intimidating. "Been having bad dreams, Dorothy?"

"Don't call me that." Bella snapped.

Damon continued to play with the dream-catcher. "Call you what, _Dorothy?_"

Bella looked away, glaring at her homework. "That…_Dorothy_." Bella gritted her teeth. "My name is Bella."

Damon chuckled deeply. "My, my, you've hardly changed. You're still just as feisty as your five—_sorry, _five and a half—year old self. The only difference is… well… you talk less and…" Damon lips curved into a lopsided smile as his eyes lingered down her chest. Bella looked down and gasped as her lacy black bra was on show. Bella quickly pulled her blouse up. "Don't rearrange yourself on my account." Damon smirked, hands held up.

Bella glared up at him. "Yeah, well, you haven't changed a bit either. The only difference is that you're now perverted." Bella looked him up and down suspiciously. "It's impossible how you still look, sound and act the same as you did thirteen years ago." Bella gritted her teeth, shuddering. "What are you?"

Damon moved forward slowly. Bella moved away from him, but she found herself meeting the end of the bed. Damon sat himself down on the bed and stared at her. His hand lifted—Bella flinched—and brushed away a curl that was on her face. He tucked it behind her ear, brushing the skin of her ear sending sparks through her body, and pulled his hand away. "Your father was right; you really are the prettiest girl I've ever seen." Damon grinned maliciously. Bella shivered at the smile. It seemed so animalistic and… hungry?

Bella pushed his hand away from her. "What are you?" she repeated, her words shook.

"Something that belongs in your nightmares." Damon casually said, flicking the dream-catcher again. "Now." Damon sharply said, turning to look into her eyes deeply. "You're going to forget that you ever met me thirteen years ago. Today was the first day you ever met me and you can't get enough of me." Damon smirked, leaning forward further. "We don't want anyone finding out that I'm not human, now do we?" Damon smirked, brushed two fingers across her cheek and left the room.

Bella watched him leave, bewildered and frightened. _Did he just try to threaten her_? And did he just admit to her that he wasn't _human_?

***.*.***

**A/N:**

For anyone who didn't understand what just happened at the end: Damon tried to compel Bella but it didn't work. Bella thinks Damon was trying to threaten her :)


	19. XIX

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Bella woke up the next morning feeling slightly under weather. She raised her head and looked at the window. It was raining—and quite heavily too; the rain was cashing down onto her window and you could hear it hitting the room. Bella sighed and propped herself up onto her elbows. She looked around her, seeing the half-done homework discarded on the floor beside her bed and the dream-catcher above her slightly crocked. It was then that the memories of the night before came back to her. She felt her heart race as she remembered the way Damon had left her that night.

She was now becoming more aware of the fact she could potentially have a dangerous killer in her house. Her heart began to beat even faster. He said he wasn't human. He threatened her not to tell anyone about knowing him thirteen years ago. The way he touched her and the strange electric current that travelled through her skin when he merely brushed it. The way he smirked at her, the way he stared her like she was a piece of meat.

Bella shuddered again and shook again. She looked down and noticed she forgot to take off her necklace last night. She walked over to the jewellery box and placed it in its rightful place. She snapped it shut and began to peal out of her pyjamas hoping Damon wouldn't chose this moment to walk into her bedroom again. But as she slipped into her cheer costume, shimming it over her set of turquoise lacy knickers and bra, there was no sight of Damon or sound of movement. She glanced at the clock and noticed that it was past 7. Damon and Charlie would have hopefully already left to go to the station.

Not wanting to bother with her bed-head mess of a hair, Bella plucked up a hair-band and tied her hair back into a neat mid-high ponytail. She placed on her white sneakers and shrugged on her jacket. She headed to the door, opened it, and peaked out of it. She craned her head down the landing and saw that it was empty and the bathroom door was ajar. Sighing in relief, Bella crossed the landing and headed into the bathroom and started to brush her teeth.

After brushing her teeth and rinsing her mouth with mouthwash, Bella felt more confident she was in the house alone. She confidently went down the stairs and headed straight for the kitchen. However once she walked into the kitchen, Bella let out a loud screech, jumping a foot or two into the air. It turns out Bella wasn't quite as alone as she once thought; leaning against the counter was Damon Salvatore, one of his muscular arms propped onto the counter and the other one holding one of Charlie's beers. The way he looked at her was as if he had known she was going to walk into the kitchen at that moment.

"Morning." Damon grinned, sending her a heart-stopping wink. Bella sucked in a breath and felt her heart skip a beat. Damon grin widened and took another sip of beer. "I've been waiting for you to finally wake up. Do you usually wake up this late?"

Bella tried to steady her frantic heart as she headed for the cupboard next to Damon and pulled out a granola bar. She ignored Damon's question—in fact, she was pretty intent on ignoring Damon full stop. But Damon didn't seem to want that to happen; when Bella pulled out the bar, Damon grabbed it from her hand.

"Thank you, _Dorothy_."

Bella gritted her teeth and figured she'd play along with this 'threat'. He wanted her to pretend he never met her thirteen years ago? So be it. And while she's playing along with his threat, she will be researching into what the hell Damon was. Bella turned to Damon, portraying an expression what she hoped was confusion. "Did you just call me Dorothy?" Bella almost smirked at the look of triumph on Damon's face. "I think you misunderstood. My name is _Bella_—B-E-L-L-A."

Damon quirked a dark and perfectly arched eyebrow. "Sorry… my mistake." Damon unpeeled the granola bar wrapper and bite out a large chunk. "Hmm, this is good." Damon mumbled through the granola bar in his mouth and took a gulp of the beer. Bella rolled her eyes and took out another granola bar. Bella let out another yelp when Damon took this granola bar. "One for the road." Damon smirked, pocketing it, taking yet another sip of his beer.

"It's a bit early to be drinking, don't you think?" Bella scowled, eyeing the beer.

Damon gave her a look of disbelief. "It's never too early to drink. You're a teenager; you should know that." Bella looked at him expressionlessly. "What? No late night binge drinking? No cheeky vodka in the coffee flask in your school bag?" Damon blinked at Bella. "Well you're just a teenager of disappointment." Damon casually said, gulping down the last of the beer.

"Just because I haven't drank alcohol doesn't mean I'm a _disappointment_." Bella snapped, picking up an apple and her schoolbag.

Damon almost spluttered on the last of his beer. "You're eighteen and you haven't had one sip of alcohol? What the hell is up with that?" Damon smirked and looked Bella up and down and licked his lips. "I wonder what other things you're a virgin to." Damon smirk widened when Bella blushed furiously, turning sharply on her feet and strutted out of the kitchen, grabbing the umbrella as she passed the coat and umbrella stand. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" Damon said with mischievous eyes.

"To school…" Bella turned around and shrieked. Damon was right behind her. "How the hell did you do that?" Bella said, trying to catch her breath.

Damon ignored her question and slung an arm around her shoulder. "C'mon…" Damon led her towards the front door.

Bella tried to shrug his arm off her. "Where are you taking me?"

"I'm giving you a lift to school, remember? You're friend seemed very honest when she told me you wanted a lift from me." Damon smirked down at her, arm still tightly clasped around her shoulder. "I've only been here for barely a day and you're already desperate for alone time with me. _Now _Bella, _what _is up with that?" Damon said in a patronizing tone. He cocked his head to the side. "Someone just _can't get enough of me_, can they?" Damon reached up and tapped Bella's nose with his forefinger.

Bella's breath stuttered but she quickly recovered herself this time; she looked up at him and glared. "You're an arrogant pig."

Damon shrugged. "I've heard worse." But then looked down at Bella curiously.

"What?" Bella snapped testily.

Damon's eyes narrowed. "Nothing. Let's get you to school. Don't want you to miss homeroom, do we?" Damon muttered sarcastically and led Bella to his electric blue Mustang. Bella simply rolled her eyes when Damon held out the door for her. "Madame." Damon drawled and gave her a patronizing smile. Bella practically snarled at him, slamming the Mustang door as she slipped into the passenger seat. The attempt didn't work too well; the strap of Bella's bag got caught in the door. Grumbling, Bella reopened the door and slammed it shut again, scowling down at her bag when she heard Damon's snickers.

As soon as she heard Damon slip into the driver's seat next to her, Bella crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest and turned to stare out the window. Every moment or so Bella would feel Damon's stares on the back of her head or hear his throaty chuckles. Was there anything about her that Damon didn't find a joke? Apparently not.

"Nice outfit. Where are your pompoms?" Damon smirked as he set the Mustang off down the street. Bella grounded her teeth but said nothing. Damon noticed she wasn't answering and continued: "Y'know I didn't exactly peg you as a cheerleader. You don't exactly act or look like a cheerleader."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Bella grounded out.

"Let's put on some music, shall we?" Damon ignored her question, reaching over and flicked on the radio. An indie rock band song of the charts blared through the radio. Damon made a noise of disgust and began to flick through the channels until he finally settled on some 70s music radio channel. Damon leant back and tapped his fingers on the wheel.

Bella huffed—it didn't seem Damon was going to answer the question—and looked away. The scenery was a blur, speeding past her in a second. Bella felt her stomach turn queasy. "Can you go anymore faster?" Damon glanced at her, raised his eyebrow and revved the engine. Bella squawked and gripped onto the leather seat. "Slow down!" Bella squeaked and Damon complied in amusement, chuckling as the car slowed down around them.

"So why did you become a cheerleader?"

"Why should I answer any of your questions when you answer none of mine?"

"Because your questions are stupid. Ask me better questions and I'll answer."

Bella crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh and your questions are so much more clever?" Bella snorted. Damon simply gave her that irritatingly perfect smile and turn back to the road ahead of him. Bella did the same, arms stubbornly crossed over her chest until the silence was too much. Bella sighed in defeat. "I became a cheerleader because my Mom was one."

"So it's a parent pressure kind of thing? Mommy desperate to make her daughter her Mini-Me?"

Bella looked down at her hands. They were shaking. "Pull over."

"What?" Damon's eyebrows furrowed.

"I said pull over."

"I don't think so, sweetheart…"-

"_Pull. Over._"

"I think not."

"Pull over God dammit!"

Damon huffed, finally complying, swerving onto the side of the road making Bella squeeze her seat again. "You want to tell me what this is about?" But his question was cut off when Bella yanked herself out of the car and slammed the car door behind her. Damon watched, baffled, as Bella shoved on her backpack and began to walk down the road. _What the hell? _Damon started the engine again, rolled down the window on the side that Bella had been sitting, and crept up to Bella. "Get in the car Bella."

"I don't think so, asshole. I'm walking." Bella snarled.

Damon rolled his eyes. "And why is that?" Damon said in a patronizing tone. Bella ignored his question. "Come on Bella—get in the car." Bella ignored him again. Damon felt his lips curl downwards; Damon didn't take being ignored lightly. "Just get in the car." Damon snapped. Again, Bella ignored him for the third time. Damon felt his frustration turning into annoyance quickly. "So I make one mention about your Mommy and you're running away? Talk about Mommy issues." Damon snickered.

Bella stopped at this and turned around, her face was red with anger. "How dare you?" Bella seethed. "How dare you make assumptions about my life without knowing me! I have you know I have_ no _so-called 'Mommy Issues' because my mother is dead. Yeah that's right—_dead_. The reason I'm a cheerleader is because it's the only way I can actually feel close to her. So _excuse me _if that reason isn't good enough excuse for you, Mr. High Almighty." Bella turned on her heel and stormed off.

***.*.***

**A/N:**

Thank you all for the reviews so far, they are lovely. I hoped you like this chapter.

I know some of you are going to think Bella is overreacting with how she acted with Damon, but you'll later the subject of Bella's Moms death is very touchy. Let's just say Bella and Charlie have never gotten over the death and have many unresolved feelings to the matter. Damon will be a main of helping Bella resolve these feelings she has from her Mom's death.


	20. XX

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

After a long dreary morning of incessant showers, the school bell of Forks High School announced lunch break had started. Bella, who her nose tucked into her Spanish book, looked up to the class around her to see her classmates—Jess included—scrambling to their feet eager to escape the classroom before Mrs. Goff assigned the class homework. Bella seemed to be the only one who was less-eager to leave the classroom; she dragged herself from the chair and put her items into her bag in an agonizingly slow pace. She could see from the corner of her eye, Jess impatiently shooting her looks that shouted "hurry up" with her sea-blue eyes and tapping her foot on the floor of the corridor. Bella knew exactly what Jess was so eager to talk to her about: the ride with her new roommate. Bella flushed embarrassingly at the mere reminder.

"Despedida, Miss. Swan." Mrs. Goff discharged Bella with a tight smile and an upwards look over her spectacles as Bella passed her, boots dragging and scuffing the ground beneath her. Bella unenthusiastically mumbled her farewells and finally met Jess at the threshold, where she practically coiled her hand around the handle of Bella's rucksack and yanked her down the corridor away from the Spanish classroom and in the direction of the exit, where rain was pelting down at full speed.

"What is with you today?" Jess huffed in her annoyance, finally letting go of Bella's rucksack as they walked out of the exit, and yanked her parka hood over her head to cover her neatly straightened dark brown hair. "I've barely gotten a word from you all day and you've been waking at the speed of a freakin' sloth." Jess glanced at her best friend through narrowed eyes, looking through the haze of rain that pelted down around them. Bella simply shrugged in reply, making no movement to reply with words. Jess rolled her eyes and let it go [for now] as they approached the cafeteria building and shimmied inside, parka's sleek with the heavy rain that pounded them in their short walk across the tiny high school campus.

"Yuck." Jess scrunched up her nose as she pushed off her hood and shook her hair out. She sighed when she saw the front portion of her hair had been hit by the rain. "Well that was three-hours spent this morning down the drain." Jess huffed. "I swear, if it I didn't have so much hate for the Mallory's, I might have asked Lauren Mallory's mother to chemically straighten my hair." Jess looked at Bella, who looked as if she was in her own damper world. "OK—out with it, or I'll ply it out with my eyebrow tweezers." Jess threatened, her eyes narrowed on Bella.

Bella rolled her eyes at her best friend. "It's nothing." And then after that, there was another long pause, as the two friends joined the queue to the food court. Either of them said anything, but their thank yous as they collected their meals and headed to their usual spot across the room. Jess kept shooting sceptical looks Bella's way, obvious notifying that whatever was wrong with Bella was not, as simply and courtly as she put it, "nothing", as Bella stabs her fork forcefully down onto her salad.

"Did something happen that you don't want to talk about?" Jess noticed the look on Bella's face, her reluctance to answer, and then her eyes widened. "Did something happen when Damon took you to school? Did he… did he _do _something to you? I knew it! I knew he was bad news, Bella. He may be hot—_freakishly hot _mind you—but there was something about him…"-Jess was interrupted before she could go no further in her vent.

"Damon didn't do anything, Jess." Bella courtly said, distinguishing any thought in Jess' mind that Damon had assaulted her. Bella bit her lip. "Well, not anything physical anyway." Bella mumbled, and nudged her salad around with her fork. Bella could feel Jess' worried gaze on her. "It was nothing that important, anyway, so can we forget about this please?"

"Forget about it? Pfft. Bella, you know who you're talking to right?" Jess retorted distastefully, leaning forward, her large eyes filled with concern for her best friend. "What did Damon say to you Bella?" Jess' arched eyebrows pulled together, almost touching at the middle. "He didn't threaten you did he? Because, I swear to God, I found carry around those name-cards for nothing. I will mess that piece of shit up so bad he'll wish he was never born…"

Bella rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile slightly at Jess' antics. "Jess—stop." Jess thankfully stopped there. Sometimes, Bella couldn't help but feel happy that she had someone like Jess around her. Since she hadn't had a mother for a long time, Jess had somewhat filled the dominant female role in her life; Jess ways always there when Bella needed her, night or day, thick or thin. She only hoped that Jess felt she could rely on Bella in the same way. Bella sighed and continued: "He didn't threaten me." Bella ducked her head sheepishly. "He didn't really say anything hurtful _really_…"

Jess looked more confused than ever. "Then why are you acting like such an old fart today?" Bella shot her a look but Jess simply crossed her arms over her chest adamantly. "Oh you know it's true, Bella." Bella rolled her eyes skywards, rested back on the cafeteria chair, and picked at her salad, taking a mouthful. She was well aware Jess was still staring at her—scrutinizing her. "So what _did _he say?"

Bella exhaled and sheepishly admitted: "He mentioned my mother… and I may have… blown up in face…slightly."

Jess face hardened. "He said something bad about your mother?" Jess' hands clenched into fists at the end of the table.

Bella shook his head. "It was just a passing comment that could have been taken wrongly—only because he had no idea that my mother was…"-Bella sucked in a breath-"Y'know…dead."

"So that's why you're so upset? Because he brought up the topic of your Mom?" Jess asked softly.

Bella's eyebrows shot up. "Who said anything about being upset?" Bella shook her head. "Jess, I'm not upset—I'm _embarrassed_! I can't believe I actually blew up in my _houseguests _face! No, scratch that—I can't believe that I made him _stop the car _so that I could get out in the pouring rain to _blow up _in his face. And all because of one measly comment of being a Mommy's Girl!" Bella groaned, her cheeks red, and placed her head into her hands in embarrassment.

Jess blinked. "You're kidding me right? All the things you could be upset about—the fact that Damon brought up the topic of your Mom—and you're _embarrassed _about actually raising your voice at someone for once?" Jess shook her head disbelievingly. "After all these years of being your best friend, you still never crease to amaze me, Isabella Marie Swan."

***.*.***

**Sorry for the hiatus guys! **

**I've started my final year of school so I'm a little preoccupied. I've been trying to keep up with all the updates but it's a little difficult since the work load this year is freakin' humongous. No joke. And if any of you have ever gone through A-Level English Literature in the UK, then you know that you're getting essays every week as well as reading assignments! Not to mention I'm doing two other subjects so, as you can tell, I have been very preoccupied. But October half-term is in a week so I should be able to update then. **

**Though I won't be updating often in the next year. I'm still unsure what to do with my life after school and whether I want to go University. I'm considering to further Art History as a degree. So if any of you are living in the UK and know of any good Universities that do great Art History degrees for average UCAS points &/or have any opinions/reviews on Art History degrees please comment below in the reviews!**

**Not sure if I will be updating again today, I will try though. **

**Thank you for all the reviews so far—you guys rock!**


	21. XXI

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Damon, you're here. Good." Chief Swan greeted the raven-haired vampire when he walked into the Police Station, raindrops clustered on his leather-donned shoulders, and his hair slightly damp. Charlie walked up to him, his police badge gleaming with authority, and patted Damon's back good naturedly. Damon forced himself not to grit his teeth when Charlie kept an arm around his shoulder, despite the obvious height difference, and turned to the office around them that was crowded with officers here and there. Each of them was equally staring at Damon with wonder. "Everyone, I'd like to give you the pleasure of introducing you to Damon Salvatore, an associate of mine who will be working on a case with me." Around the room, people mumbled their 'hellos' and 'nice-to-meet-yous'.

Charlie turned back to Damon once the people around the room resumed their work, answering their phones, and filling out their files. "I'm glad to have you here, son." Damon almost flinched at what Charlie called him. "And thank you for taking Bella in this morning. Did she get to school OK?"

"You're welcome, Chief, and got her there just in the nick of time." Damon smirked, pulling out of Charlie's grasp on his shoulder. Damon had come straight from the spot where he left Bella, walking to school. He had trailed behind her for a few minutes, calling after her in irritation to get back in the car, but he soon came to acknowledge that Bella Swan, the prodigal daughter of Forks' Chief of Police, was one of the most stubborn girls he'd met—and that was including Elena Gilbert, the Queen of Stubborn. So after two more minutes of trailing behind her, being overtook by passing cars, Damon gave up. Like he really had the time—well, actually he did—or the effort—again, he did—to follow after her the whole way to school. Damon hated to waste time of stubborn girls, which he'd learnt from the Queen of Stubborn herself.

Charlie smiled. "Good, good. Maybe we could arrange for you to take her to the morning every weekday."

Damon's lips twitched. "I'm sure she'd love that, Chief." After that, Charlie led Damon to his office with the gesture of his hand. Damon was lead down the corridor he had walked down yesterday and stopped beside the desk that guarded Charlie's office. Charlie spoke to Lillian for a handful of minutes before guiding Damon into the room. Damon noticed Lillian's confused eyes on him, and deviously winked at her over his shoulder before the door shut behind him. He could hear the stuttering of her heart through the soundproof walls of the office.

"Straight to business today, if you don't mind, Damon." Charlie gruffly said, walking over to where Deputy Mark and Officer Stanley were hunched over the desk where files and photographs were spread across. "If we want to catch this _killer _then we ought to do it quick before those nosy Seattle Reporters come snooping for more scope." Charlie huffed, scratching the back of his neck. "Just this morning Lillian has recorded two calls from reporters." Charlie grumbled. "They're becoming a liability, that's for sure."

Damon rolled his eyes and threw himself onto a chair beside the desk. "Obviously none of you are masters in the art of _covering _it up." Damon lazily said, a glint in his icy blue eyes.

Officer Stanley narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest tightly. "You can't exactly cover up a _murder_, Mr. Salvatore."

Damon twitched his lips and raised an eyebrow at Officer Stanley. "Please… call me Damon." Damon slouched back on the chair, his arms lazily thrown across the arms of the chair. "We are after all going to be working with each other for a while." Damon smirked, playing on the noticeable dislike Officer Stanley seems to have for him.

Officer Stanley narrowed his eyes. "A while? I thought it was your job to capture the culprit as quick as possible."

Damon sighed, crossing his arms behind his head and rested his head against it. "Evidently you're all new to the hunting of vampires." Damon rolled his eyes. Charlie and Deputy Mark shared a look. "Hunting vampires isn't just a one off thing—you don't just go off into the wood, throw some stakes, and be done." Damon spat out. "Vampires are intelligent—intuitive." Damon's lip curled up into a sly smirk. "It probably already knows you're hunting it right now." Officer Stanley flinched. "FYI, tip one of hunting a vampire: Be careful who you put your trust into." Damon licked his lips and turned his eyes to look in the direction of the office door. "I wouldn't be surprised if the vampire has a spy just a… door away."

Charlie, Deputy Mark and Officer Stanley looked at the office door. "Are you saying that Lillian is a spy?" Deputy Mark said incredulously.

Damon shrugged. "Could well be."

"Impossible!" Deputy Mark spluttered. "She has a husband, kids, a life…"-

"You think the vampire cares if she has a life? You think it cares that she might have someone out there who loves her? No. Vampires don't give a _shit. _To them, it's all about the hunt." By now, Damon was leaning forward in the chair, and the three officers were cowering away from him. His inner monster gleamed in satisfaction. It was just too easy to get inside their heads. _Humans_, his monster's subconscious scoffed. "When the vampires have a game, they'll stop to nothing to complete it—and in this vampire's case; it will stop at nothing until this town is ripped apart by his bare hands."

"You seem to know a lot about the way a vampire thinks, _Salvatore._" Officer Stanley spat.

Damon smirked. "It's what my job entails, right?"

Charlie exhaled, rubbing a hand over his face, and when he pulled his hand away his face was hardened with determination. "That it is, Damon." Charlie stepped forward, resting his hands on the desk, leaning closer to him. "I think its best you tell us more _tips _before we get to business." Damon's smirk widened at this.

***.*.***

**OK, so maybe I did update earlier. **

**So Damon's going to fill them in on vampires, though is anyone getting the idea he has ulterior motives? He's Damon Salvatore after all. **


	22. XXII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"They seriously want us to soccer in this weather?" Jess incredulously said as they finished lacing their studded soccer boots. It was last period, Gym for Bella and Jess, and Coach Clapp had announced that regardless of the rainstorm happening around them, they were still going through with soccer class. Jess, of course, had her piece to say once the girls finished lacing their boots and headed out of the changing rooms where Coach Clapp was ticking off each name of the person that stepped out of the changing room.

"Stanley. Swan. One of the last to leave the changing room—why am I not surprised?" Coach Clapp drawled, lazily ticking off their names without so much of a glance to them. Bella shivered, wrapping her arms around her, wishing she had opted to wearing her parka. She was sure that Coach Clapp would have shouted at her if she did though. Coach Clapp wasn't exactly the biggest fan of Bella's. The same went for Jess, though Jess never seemed to be bothered about it like Bella was—because, let's face it, Coach Clapp wasn't the first one to dislike Jess and won't be the last.

"You're joking right?" Jess sassily said, her hands on her hips, glaring up at the coach.

Coach Clapp looked up at her with disinterest. "No, Miss. Stanley. Every lesson I see the two of you walking out of the changing room last, or one of the last. I'd like to know what takes you so long to put on some kit and leave."

Jess huffed. "I'm not talking about that—which, FYI Coach Clapp; it takes ages to put on those jackets. Who's idea was it to put button-up jackets on the Gym kit anyway?" Jess shook her head. "And do you really expect us to play soccer in the pouring rain?"

Coach Clapp narrowed her eyes the girl. "The other girls seem to be managing just fine without complaints; I suggest you do the same, Miss. Stanley, or you'll be signing yourself up to lunch time detentions cleaning the spare kit." Jess scrunched up her nose but reluctantly complied when Bella tugged her away from the coach before he stays true to his word. Jess however, didn't stop there, with her complaining as the two of them joined the cluster of girls shivering and shoulder-hunched in the pouring rain. They were soaked within minutes.

"Who does he think he is?" Jess exclaimed. "Does he seriously expect us to play soccer without freezing our butts off?" as Jess said this, Angela approached the two girls with a tiny smile on her face that was covered in raindrops. "Hey Ang." Jess politely said to the girl. Angela was probably one of the few people Jess could tolerate, mainly because Angela had the heart of an angel.

"Hi Jess, Hi Bella." Angela reached up to wipe her glasses. "Great weather to be doing soccer in, huh?" Jess huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Don't mind her," Bella reassured Angela's concerned face. "She's just crabby because Coach Clapp threatened her to clean out the spare kit." Even Angela scrunched up her nose at that comment. Everyone knew the spare kit wasn't exactly the cleanest of things—Bella had managed to pick up a worn FHS t-shirt that had some sort of yellow stain that looked like it was either mustard to sick.

"So are you guys going to the Homecoming dance?" Angela asked the two girls with a smile. Bella and Jess looked at Angela, eyebrows raised. Angela laughed when she realized her mistake. "Sorry. Forgot you guys were on the anti-school dance wagon." Angela held up her hands in mock defence. "I was going to ask you if you were interested in coming with me to Port Angeles to go dress shopping, but it's OK if you don't want to." Angela gave the girls a small smile.

Bella and Jess shared a look. "Actually that sounds really fun." Bella enthused, watching Angela's honey-brown eyes light up happily. "It's been a while since I've actually been shopping. Maybe we could make a thing out of it—like see a movie or go for a meal afterwards." Bella shrugged and Angela's smile widened.

"That sounds great! Saves me from having to shop with Mom, Isaac and Josh." Angela rolled her eyes at the thought of shopping with her nine year old twin brothers that seemed to cause mayhem everywhere they went.

Jess piped up. "Yeah, sounds good. I have wanted to go there to get another piercing anyways." Jess waved her hand casually and then scowled when she saw Coach Clapp making his way across the field to them. "Oh great, here comes Tubby himself." Bella nudged Jess' arm and gave her a stern look when Jess said that loudly. "What? It's true. I don't understand how a person whose job is to maintain student's fitness is miles away from being fit himself."

"Miss. Stanley! Looks like you've got a lot to say for yourself. For that you'll be in goal. Try not to slip on the mud while you catch the ball, will you?"

***.*.***

**So Angela, Jess and Bella will be heading off to Port Angeles like you see in Twilight! Except it won't end with a sparkly Volvo driver saving the day!**

**In the next few chapters, Bella will be getting curious about how Damon looks the same and there will be another animal attack coming. But who would it be? Who will the nameless vampire attack this time? **

**Sorry about the chapters being so short, but then again the shorter my chapters are the quicker I update!**


	23. XXIII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Rain was pouring profusely around Bella, and through the noisy haze of rain around her, Bella could only just make out the outlines of girls that moved around her, chasing after the ball. Jess was a little way down the field, angrily guarding the goal, as she watched the other girls with arms crossed over chest chase after and kick the ball with difficulty due to the sloshed ground and the rain pelting them. Bella's body felt like a icicle and her joints were aching. Every time she rain, it felt like her joints were constricting beneath her.

Had Bella ever mentioned how much she hated Gym?

By the looks of things, cheerleading would be cancelled today, by the way Bella watched Lauren whine and wail to Coach Clapp that she was "too cold" and that she "wanted to go home". Even if the whines were coming from Lauren, Bella couldn't help but agree. She was too cold and she did want to go home. However, if she went home, she was unsure what she'd find. Would she find a certain strikingly handsome houseguest sitting in her living room? Or her kitchen? Or worse yet, her bedroom? Bella shuddered at the idea of Damon snooping through her bedroom like he last did when he threatened her.

"Too cold? Want to go home? Miss. Mallory you've only been out here for less than twenty minutes!" Coach Clapp retorted to Lauren who had stopped playing and was stubbornly standing in the middle of the field, shivering and resembling a panda with her porcelain skin and her mascara spread around the rings of her eyes. "You live in the rainiest town in Washington—what do you expect in autumn? Sunshine and tropical heat? Keep moving! You too Swan! Don't think I can't see you standing over there doing nothing!"

Bella groaned and began to jog towards the cluster of girls chasing after the ball.

_There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like him_, Bella snickered at the irony of her quote. She was sure if Damon had heard what she had thought, he'd be having a field day by now. Bella's eyebrows furrowed, apprehensively noticing how somehow her thoughts always seemed to lead back to a certain Damon Salvatore. Even through the crisp, icy weather around her, Bella felt her cheeks heat up. Why do her thoughts always come back to Damon? Why do I keep thinking about him?

_Well that's obvious, idiot, you met the guy thirteen years ago yet somehow he looks like you met him in the meadow only yesterday…-_

"Bella! Heads up!" The voice caught Bella's attention. She turned around and gasped just in time to see a ball ricocheting her way with no intention of stopping. Bella managed to clamp her eyes shut just in time when she felt the ball smack her head. She felt herself fall to the ground, splatting into the mud on the floor beneath her. As the ball hit her, it felt as if her brain crashed against her skull like a pinball in a pinball machine. She heard people calling her name, but before she knew it, her eyes were closing and she was drifting into a bittersweet memory.

…

Autumn of 2000

_The young girl with waist long mahogany hair looked around her in deep interest. She was standing in a town that reminded her vaguely of Forks, except it was bigger, cleaner, prettier and brighter. The sun was actually on full display in the high sky despite the fact it was mid-Autumn season. And the trees around the young girl were filled with leaves, that hadn't already scattered on the ground beneath it, rich red and crisp golden and musty brown leaves. She had never seen trees so beautiful! _

"_Come on, sweetheart." The young girl looked around to see her mother closing the deep maroon car door, and holding out her hand. She was smiling except somehow it didn't quite reach her eyes. "We don't want to be late for the service." She said softly, as the young girl skipped to her mother's side and took her hand. When her hand coiled around her mother's, the mother knelt down to the ground and looked down at her daughter with a sad smile on her face. "Don't you look beautiful." Her mother softly said, brushing imaginary dirt from her pretty black dress with ruffled sleeves. Her mother was wearing a black dress too. "Now, you remember what I told you in the car, right?"_

_Seven year-old Bella Swan nodded her head. "Yep. Don't talk through the service, try not to smile too much, and stay by your side at all times." _

"_Good girl." Renée Swan smiled at her daughter affectionately, reaching forward to place a kiss on her daughter's cheek._

_Bella shook her head and pouted. "I don't understand why I'm going to a furniral…"-_

"_Funeral."_

"_-funeral who I don't even know. Jess said that funerals are for loved ones—like the time she went to her Pops funeral with her Mom."_

_Renée shook her head sadly. "__**You **__don't know who this person was, but I did—and I loved this person with all my heart—and I'm sure if you ever got the chance to meet him, you would have loved him too." Renée sighed sadly and brushed her fingers over her daughter's cheek. "I don't expect you to understand now, sweetie, but one day you'll wake up and understand… when you're older."_

_Bella pouted her lips and watched her mother pull herself up into a stand, her head growing higher as the height difference grew larger. "But what's his name?" she asked as Renée lead the girl towards the white church, where the clock on the clock-tower was about to strike eleven._

"_His name was Carlisle. Carlisle Cullen."_

***.*.***

**Another chapter!**

**Now, don't be mad, this doesn't mean that I'm introducing Edward into the story! Because I know quite a lot of you were quite happy with the Cullens not being into the story. **

**Carlisle Cullen is dead (if you hadn't already gathered Bella and Renee were going to his funeral in the memory).**

**Or is he dead?**


	24. XXIV

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Well… thank you for that, Damon." Charlie breathed, leaning back in his office chair once Damon had finished telling the officers he (limited) details he had decided to tell them. Damon was now cradling a glass of bourbon that Charlie had offered from his hidden stash of alcohol. Officer Stanley had been the only one not to drink, as he was too busy staring at Damon with his judging glare from across the room. Charlie noticed, of course, and let out a huff of annoyance. "Give it up, Stanley. We're all getting tired of your immature glaring." Charlie snapped.

Officer Stanley's lips thinned. "Sorry, sir." He grumbled.

Charlie waved his hand. "You're dismissed for the day. Go help Officer White with patrolling. Deputy—you can check up on the others in the office for a while." Deputy Mark nodded and followed Officer Stanley out of the room. Charlie sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't look at Damon until the door had closed. "If you say stakes and that herb… ver…"-

"Vervain." Damon inwardly rolled his eyes.

Charlie nodded. "_Vervain_ can kill a vampire, then how on earth can we get them?"

Damon shrugged his shoulders casually. "Liz made sure I came equipped." He casually answered. "I have enough stakes and vervain darts to take down at least ten vampires—though I doubt we'd be dealing with any more than one or two vampires." Damon entwined his hands in front of him and twiddled his thumbs. In the past few hours of explaining everything word-by-word slowly to these dumbass officers, Damon was finding himself bored out of his mind. Not even the glass of bourbon in his hand was helping his boredom.

Charlie sucked in a breath and nodded. "We'll get to work straight thing tomorrow." And then looked up at Damon carefully. "You said this would take a while—how long do you mean, a while?"

Damon licked his lips. "Weeks—maybe even months." Damon sighed when he saw the expression on Charlie's face. "Like I said, it's not something that can happen overnight, Chief. Dealing with vampires isn't like dealing with a common mountain lion that's stepped too close to town." Damon looked at Charlie through his blank icy blue eyes and then spoke again: "But for the meantime I suggest you start putting hope in your people. Otherwise they're walking around blind and scared, looking over their shoulder, waiting for the next attack." Charlie nodded thoughtfully. Damon stood and all seriousness had disappeared on his face, his smirk apparent. "Now, how about you and me get some lunch?"

Charlie sighed and nodded.

The two men walked out of the police station after informing Deputy Mark and Lillian were they were going. They drove in Charlie's cruiser, since they were technically still in work hours, to The Lodge where a few cars were parked in the parking lot but not as full as it was the night before. Damon couldn't help but smirk as he remembered the events of what happened to night before when he went to The Lodge with Charlie and Bella.

When they walked inside the diner, they slipped into the same booth as the night before, and they were approached by an African-American woman with cornrows in her short hair. She looked like she was in her 40s; she was wearing an apron, and smiled at Damon a little too friendly for Damon to distinguish the woman as being 'polite'. Not that Damon cared—he's was used to this kind of attention and frankly, he found it amusing or pathetic most of the time.

"Hey Chief." the woman said, smiling at Charlie lightly, and then looked at Damon. "Hello handsome. What can I get for you fellas?"

"The usual, Cora." Charlie sheepishly said to the middle-aged waitress.

Cora turned to Damon, her dark eyes sparkling. "And how about you, sugar?"

"I'll have the same." Damon drawled.

Cora nodded, jotted down on the notepad before murmuring that she'll be back when the order's ready, before sashaying off to continue ordering costumers. Cora didn't look at Damon or Charlie again, thankfully, until she came back over with their meals. Between waiting for their meal, Charlie talked about nonsenses. He talked about funny moments he had in his time working as Chief and ones that he had working with Liz back in police training. Of course Damon kept up his façade and actually made himself appear that he was bothered by what he was saying.

"C'mon Chief. I don't believe that you and Liz had nothing going on between you the whole time you've known each other. Not even one awkward moment at a college bar after having too many beers?" Damon chuckled as he sipped his own beer from the bottle. Charlie, whom had been sipping on his own beer, almost choked on his beer as his whole face went a beetroot red. Damon leant back in the booth satisfied. "I knew it. I was right. What was it? A one night stand?"

Charlie grunted and shook his head. "No!" he quickly said. "Nothing like that. Just… one kiss. But it never meant anything. I met Renée a month later and Liz met her husband just five months after me meeting Renée." Charlie explained as he placed down his beer as Cora returned with the food. Cora asked if either of them wanted any dessert but Damon and Charlie passed the waitress off with smiles and no thank-you's and Cora wondered off to continue working.

"Renée is Bella's mother?" Damon asked, picking up his stake-knife and fork as Charlie did the same.

Charlie carved into his stake shaking his head. "Was." He corrected. "Renée passed away when Bella was eight and a half." Charlie frowned as he said so.

"I'm sorry." Damon said with feigned sympathy. Charlie simply waved his comment off in dismissal with the shake of his head as he pushed a forkful of stake into his mouth. Damon began to effortlessly carve his own stake as he watched Charlie chew on his meat. "How did it happen, if you don't mind me asking?" And there it was. The question he'd been dying it hear about since the encounter with Bella this morning.

"Car crash." Charlie quickly said. Charlie cleared his throat. "Uh…Her neck snapped in the collision. It was a quick death." Damon narrowed his eyes on Charlie and opened his mouth to speak again, but then a beeping nose stopped Damon from doing so. Charlie dropped his knife and fork and pulled out his pager. "It's from Deputy Mark." Charlie said. He then pulled out his cell and dialled Deputy Mark's number. "Mark?" he said once he answered. Damon effortlessly craned his ear and began to listen to the conversation.

"_Chief, Billy and Sam are here to discuss the attacks._"

Charlie glanced at Damon, who was pretending to be distracted in the diner around them. "OK. I'll be there in a few minutes. Take them into my office to wait." And with a few more short words of exchange, Charlie hung up and pulled himself out of the booth. "I have to go. I have someone from the La Push reservation waiting to talk to me about the attacks." Charlie quietly said to Damon so no-one around would hear.

Damon pretended to feign a look of confusion. "La Push reservation? What do they have to do with the attacks? Is everything OK?"

"Yes…well…" Charlie wiped his brow. "You'll know in due time, son." Damon had to stop himself from cringing when Charlie said that. And shortly after he said it, Charlie's cell went off this time. Charlie pulled it out of his pocket for the second time, and looked at the ID. "It's school." A worried expression filled Charlie face. He answered the call and pressed the cell to his ear. "Hello?"

"_Hello Chief Swan, this is_ _Mrs. Cope. I'm phoning to say Bella's had an accident._" Damon froze when he heard this. "_She was hit by a ball in gym class and has been unconscious since. She's been taken to the nurse's office. Mrs. Hammond thinks Bella is OK but suggests it would be a good idea to be picked up and taken to Doctor Snow as soon as you can for precautions._"

"OK… Thank you very much, Shelly. I'll be over straight away." Charlie hung up and sighed. "I'll have to call Mark to tell I'm I can't make it…"

"Why don't I collect Bella?" Damon blurted out of nowhere. Charlie looked at him, eyebrows raised. "I'm sure she's fine and what better why than to show gain your trust than to look after your most important person in life." Damon smirked.

Charlie sighed. "Well only if that's OK with you…"

"Of course it is, Chief."

"…You've got to give me hourly updates though. Call me as soon as you've picked her up and got her home from the hospital."

***.*.***


	25. XXV

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

At some point through the dark abyss of unconsciousness, Bella was slowly pulled back up to the surface of reality. The first thing she noticed was the pounding headache penetrating her brain like someone was jackhammering her brain maliciously and with no mercy. The concept made her wince, groan and lift her aching limbs up to her head to palm the pounding pain. Some-where through her pounding head, she heard the sound of someone shuffling beside her.

What _happened_?

"You were hit straight to the head with a soccer ball. Quite hilarious if you ask me." _Did she say that aloud_? "Yes, you did. Now be a good girl and open your eyes for me, Dorothy?" Bella groaned again when she realized who the voice belonged to exactly. She opened her eyes agonizingly slowly and winced at the sudden rush of light. "There's that's it. Welcome to the Wizarding World of Oz, Dorothy." The voice mocked just as the blurred shape of Damon Salvatore came into focus, all smirks and perfection hovering over her.

"What are _you _doing here?" Bella accusingly said through her pain. "Where am I?"

"You really do have a way with words, don't you?" Damon smirked. "And you're in the nurse's office—if you can even call it that." Damon turned to look over his shoulder, inspecting the tiny room that could barely fit in a desk with a long doctor's chair crammed in opposite it. Barely one person could fit in it, let alone three once the nurse, Mrs. Hammond, returns with some ice and jugs of water. Damon smirked, turning back to Bella who finally had her brown eyes wide open now, taking in her surroundings past Damon. Somehow even drenched in rain, pale and clammy, she still manages to look prettier than the likes of Elena or Katherine. Though he'd never find himself admitting that aloud any time soon… "And to answer your first question—your Dad was in the middle of important business… so I offered to pick you up and take you to the hospital."

Bella's eyes bugged at the mention of the hospital. "To the _hospital_?" Damon chuckled throatily and nodded at her. Bella groaned again, though this time he was sure it wasn't of the headache, and let her head lull back on the uncomfortable looking square pillow. As Bella did so, the door opened and Mrs. Hammond squeezed in, taking in Bella's awakened form.

"Oh good, you're up, now Mr. Salvatore can take you to the hospital."

Bella's face winced and she looked at Mrs. Hammond desperately. "But I don't need to go to the hospital!"

Mrs. Hammond put her hands on her hips and looked at Bella pointedly. "You've been unconscious for almost thirty minutes. I think you _need_ to go to the hospital." Mrs. Hammond saw Bella's reluctance and narrowed her eyes. "Don't make me call your father, Isabella."

Bella whimpered, much to Damon's amusement, and slowly peeled herself from the bed. She pushed herself onto her feet, only to lose balance, and in a second Damon was beside her steadying her with his hands. Bella glanced up at Damon inquisitively, only to see Damon's emotionless expression which told her he wasn't going to answer any questions on how the hell he got to her side so quickly even if she tried.

"Thank you Mrs. Hammond; it was a pleasure to meet you." Damon turned his attention to the nurse, whom blushed and fluttered her eyelashes at the handsome raven-haired man. Bella rolled her eyes and let Damon lead Bella, with his hand coiled around her shoulder, out of the nurse's office and through the foyer where Mrs. Cope was sitting behind the desk—per usual—stapling. She looked up when she saw Bella and Damon exit the nurse's desk.

"Oh, Bella—good, you're awake." Mrs. Cope greeted Bella with a concerned smile. "I suppose you'll want to be signed out, dear?" Mrs. Cope looked from Bella to Damon, and much like Mrs. Hammond blushed feverously to match her hair. Bella mutely nodded; considering she had only woken up a few minute after apparently being unconscious for thirty minutes, she didn't quite have the energy to reply. Mrs. Cope pulled out a slip and scribbled on it. "There you go, Bella. Hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks Mrs. Cope." Bella took the slip from Mrs. Cope's hand.

"Yes, _thank you_, Mrs. Cope. Now, if you'll excuse us we're in a hurry to get Bella here to the hospital." Damon smiled impishly at Mrs. Cope, whose heart stuttered at the sight, before tugging Bella by the hand out of the reception and towards the electric blue car sitting in a parking spot that Bella was pretty sure it belonged to the principal.

Bella grunted and grumbled, pulling and tugging at the hand Damon tightly grasped hold onto and tugged her along with. "There's no way in hell that I'm going to the hospital." Bella stubbornly said. "I'm fine—I feel fine." As Bella said this, she tripped over her own shoelaces. If it hadn't of been for Damon's hand that tugged her back onto her feet, she was pretty sure she would have fallen flat on her face. She moaned as she regained balance—the jolt of her head had made the stinging pain return to her head.

"I think the invalid is delusional." Damon snickered, stopping as they approached the car. "Now, do you need me to strap you in?" Damon said in a patronizing voice.

Bella glared up at the raven-head, yanked her hand from Damon's, and stomped around him to the door. "I'm perfectly capable of putting a seatbelt on, thank you." Bella went to yank open the door, coiling her hand around the handle of the passenger door, but was refrained. Damon leant against the car, arms crossed over his chest as he watched Bella rather pathetically make a fool out of herself as she tried to open the door. Bella huffed after several minutes and turned to Damon, who was now holding up the keys, swinging them around his forefinger.

"I think you've forgotten something with that concussed head of yours." Damon teased, making no movement to unlock the car.

Bella rolled her eyes and tutted. "Well open the car then!"

Damon chuckled but complied. "I'm sorry; I didn't realize someone was so eager to get to the hospital."

Bella yanked the door open for the multiple time, this time succeeding, and threw her rucksack inside ruthlessly and then slipped inside afterwards. "I'm not. Just the sooner I get away from you the better."

Damon rolled his eyes this time, slipping into the driving seat and started the engine that purred to life. "You better not pull a stunt like this morning again, Dorothy."

"You don't make any inappropriate comments and I won't." Bella replied in a snarky voice, crossing her arms over her chest, and turned her head to glare out the window. "Why are you picking me up anyway? I was half expecting when I woke up to see Charlie fussing over me like he usually does when my lack of klutziness gets me thrown into the nurse's office."

Damon couldn't help but wince at the image of Bella and her klutz-self. "Your father was busy with work. Busy, busy, busy—couldn't even leave the office."

Bella rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid, you know. I know why you're here in Forks, and I know he's solving the animal attack case. I'm not that ignorant, I have you know."

"Hmm." Damon glanced at Bella to see a dejected looking teen, arms crossed over chest, glaring straight forward. He wanted nothing more but to get inside that pretty little head of hers to see what she was thinking of as she glared into the distance. As he thought so, an idea struck him. "Say…" Damon started in a mocking light-hearted tone. "How about we skip the hospital thing and skip to the fun bit?" Damon pulled his hands from the wheel to rub his hands. Bella shifted uncomfortably and didn't relax until the hands were back on the wheel. "How about we go hiking—for old time sake?"

"Old time sake?" Bella repeated eyebrows quirked.

Damon smirked. "Sorry. Personal inside joke. So, what do you say, Dorothy? Up for an adventure down the yellow brick roads?"

Bella narrowed her beautiful brown eyes at the vampire. "What's your hidden agenda?"

"Now, don't be so paranoid Bella. It's win-win situation; you don't get to the _boring _hospital and _you _will tell me all about yourself in the deep, dark forest. Just the two of us. And don't you worry—I know just the place where we can sit and talk. You might even find it _familiar._"

***.*.***

**Yes, Damon is taking Bella to the meadow. **

**I wonder what kind of mischief is going to go down there? **

**I also wonder what kind of things Damon is trying to get out of Bella. Hmmm.**

**Make sure to vote for this story on The Burning Diamonds Award at:**

**crossoverawards . blogspot . com**

**This story has been nominated twice for the Best Damon and Best Supporting Character (Jessica) Award!**

**So if you love the Damon and Jessica in this story, vote!**

**The next few chapters will start to get better - I promise!  
**

**Hope you're all having a great Christmas so far**

**X**


	26. XXVI

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

**Bella's fine. Taking her home now. No need to worry, Chief, she's in safe hands.—Damon.**

Charlie sighed when he saw the message light up on his cell screen and brushed a hand over his forehead, wiping away the sheen of sweat, as he arrived back at the Police Station. He had been so worried about Bella that his whole ride had been conflicted between turning back and heading for Forks High, calling off his meeting with Billy and Sam, and going to the meeting. But when the message from Damon was delivered, Charlie sighed in relief, and the conflictions disappeared; he slipped out of the cruiser, of which he had been sitting in for the past two minutes of confliction, and headed up the Police Station steps, making note of calling home when the meeting had finished.

Deputy Mark was already waiting for him in the foyer of the station. He was quick to notice Charlie's flustered appearance. "Everything alright, Chief?" Deputy formally said, with the officers lingered around at hearing range. Officer White peered over the file she appeared to be reading over at Charlie and Deputy Mark.

Charlie nodded. "Bella . . . she had an accident at school today." Mark's eyebrows shot up at the news. "Some gym accident, knocked unconscious, but everything's OK. I went Damon to collect her and take her home." Mark nodded, appeared to be just as relieved as Charlie at the news; in his head, he was silently thanking the Lord for not letting Charlie's daughter for being another victim of the vampire attacks. Truth be told, there hadn't been another animal attack for a week and Mark knew he wasn't the only one who was tense with dreading anticipation.

Charlie, Officer Stanley, and even Billy Black and Sam seemed to have their teeth on edge.

"Your daughter is too much of a klutz for her own good, Chief." Charlie chuckle half-heartedly, running a tired hand through his curly brown hair that was greying at the roots. Mark laughed, clapped Charlie on the back. "C'mon, Chief, Mr. Black and Mr. Uley are here to see you." Mark cast him a discreet look and the two Officers headed in the direction of Charlie's office. They were almost out of the Police Station foyer when they heard a feminine voice call after her.

"Can I bring in a coffee for you, Chief sir?" It was Officer White, fluttering her eyelashes prettily at Charlie, her eyes wide and full of anticipating question.

Charlie shook his head. "No thank you, Officer White. Keep to what you're doing." Charlie's eyebrows furrowed suspiciously at the disappointed look Officer White seemed to portray when he denied her offer. The female officer turned around and slumped onto her desk, resuming her previous work. Charlie shook his head and turned back to Mark, who watched the scene with equal inquisition. The two officers said nothing upon it, and returned to the matter at hand; walking into Charlie's office, where Lillian prior greeted them at the door, where Billy and Sam were both seated—talking to Officer Stanley.

"Charlie." Billy greeted his friend with a nod and a lukewarm smile, from his place in his wheelchair. Sam Uley, who stood solidly behind him, greeted Charlie with a smile nod and a passive look in his eyes.

Charlie patted Billy's shoulder, of which Billy returned with the pat of Charlie's hand, as Charlie side-passed them and placed himself behind the desk. "Thank you for agreeing to the meeting being rescheduled." Billy shook his head, as if dismissing Charlie's gratitude. "I don't know whether Stanley has told you anything before now, but we have recently welcomed a man into our service that specializes in this certain field area."

Billy glanced at Sam, then Stanley, then back at Charlie. "Yes—Stanley mentioned him . . . and his work attitude."

Charlie looked at Stanley and sighed. _Of course that's the impression Stanley put across_. "His work attitude put aside, Mr. Salvatore has—quite frankly—been the best investment this police service has made. He knows more about what kind of vampire we are dealing with. Thanks to Mr. Salvatore we may actually have a chance in catching and killing this vampire." Billy blinked and Sam looked at Billy unsurely. Charlie inhaled and continued. "Mr. Salvatore seems to think that we're dealing with just one vampire—a skilled one at that."

Sam let out a gruff sound from the back of his throat. "Impossible. All these killings couldn't have been done by just one vampire!"

Charlie cocked an inquisitive eyebrow. "And have you caught anymore vampire scents since last month?" Sam said nothing. Charlie sighed and clasped his hands together, leaning forward. "Don't get me wrong, Sam, I'm not trying to mock you and your pack—you're doing a good job hunting the vampire down so far. It's just time is of essence and . . . well, I'm sure you've seen the articles—they're doubting our skills—and until Mr. Salvatore came along we felt a little blind-sighted to what was going on."

Sam stepped forward, but Billy placed a hand on his arm, stopping him. "We understand. We don't mean to make you feel out of the loop, Charlie."

Charlie shook his head. "Of course not, Billy."

"Good. Then maybe we could arrange a meeting with this Mr. Salvatore? I am curious to see what this man has to say about what we're dealing with. After all, it's not often that a man—a human at that—knows all about vampire slaying." Billy keenly said.

"I'm sure that can be arranged." Charlie smiled and glanced at Deputy Mark and Officer Stanley. "Mark, Stanley—why don't you get Billy and Sam some refreshments?" Charlie hinted. Mark and Stanley nodded obediently and headed out of the room. As the door opened, Charlie could have sworn he saw a flash of red hair from the corridor. His eyes lingered there for a moment, until the door closed, and he turned his attention to Billy and Sam again. "Billy, Sam . . . how are things with the pack?"

"Well. We've had two new additions to the pack; I suppose you remember Quill and Embry?"

Charlie blinked. "Jacob's friends?" Billy nodded mutely. "Phew." Charlie exhaled, leaning backwards. "Never expected that one. And how are they taking to the transition?" Charlie's eyes strayed to Sam's.

"Fine—a little too enthusiastic in Paul's eyes—but nothing that can't be handled."

Charlie chuckled gruffly. "Yeah, well, that'll change when they slay their first vampire."

Sam smirked slightly, shaking his head. "Actually, it'll probably quite the opposite."

Billy chuckled this time.

"And Jacob? Is he showing any signs?" Charlie prompted Billy.

"Not yet." Billy shook his head. "And I can't decide if I'm relieved or frustrated about it. But I don't doubt if these vampire killings continue, he will begin to show signs."

"Don't worry, Billy. When—if—he does change, he'll be in safe hands with Sam."

***.*.***

**So now we've met Billy and Sam!**

**Now we know Charlie is well informed on the Quileute supernatural situation!**

**Charlie is more let on than any of you think, huh?**

**So... do you think Jacob will transition?  
**

**He'll be entring the story soon...  
**

**Next update coming shortly X**


	27. XXVII

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

It was at least three metres away. She could hear its heart pumping in its chest from where she stood in the shadows. She stopped her breathing when she saw it turn in her direction, its round eyes searching for the source of the sound. She held her breath effortlessly in the back of her mouth, awaiting for it to turn its neck away and carry on. And twenty-three seconds later, it did; it began to move again, leisurely moving through the forest—away from her—but the heartbeat was still pounding in her ears, unwavering.

She had to do it.

She needed it.

She was so _hungry._

With that last thought running through her brain, she pounced. She zipped through the forest, leaping out of the shadow's abyss, over the bolder and weaved around trees in a matter of milliseconds. The beast had taken control and she was now seconds away from the sinking her fangs into the creature. Her fisted hands uncurled, positioning into a claw-like stance, and she felt her face begin to contort as a snarl boiled out from the back of her throat. It had finally noticed her but it was too late; the deer didn't have a chance to run, for her hands were already coiling around its throat and throwing it effortlessly to the ground.

Her canine teeth stretched out, causing her mouth to widen. She managed to catch a glimpse of the deer's hopeless dark eyes before her inner beast triumphed, causing her head to snap back and then dive forward, nesting her fangs into where she wanted it. The next thing she knew the blood was running down her throat—warm, thick, oozing. _Red._

She barely had five mouthfuls when she heard the sound of movement behind her. She pulled back, her inner monster ready to snarl, snap and attack the one who tried to disturb her, but it never came. For her contorted face met the hopefully anticipating eyes of Stefan. Stefan. Her Stefan—or, in other words, her fiancé. Involuntarily she felt the monster cave as a wave of shame overlapped her. Her arms uncoiled from around the deer's neck. It clambered to its feet and scarpered away.

"I . . ." Words failed her.

Stefan cocked his head to the side. "Why'd you stop? You were doing so well until you let it go." He was smiling so perfectly. His light brown hair seemed to almost glow golden in the sun that pushed through the cracks of the trees. He looked almost angelic as he smiled at her. It was intimidating; he was an image of perfection, whilst she knelt on the ground—a perfect image of hell—with her hands and mouth coated in blood, fangs displayed, and web-like veins protruding from the skin beneath her eyes.

"You distracted me." Elena protested.

Stefan chuckled. "Sorry. I was just making sure you were OK." Stefan cocked his head to the side again, inspecting his fiancé. "Are you?"

_No,_ she wanted to say, but stopped herself from doing so. "I'm fine." Elena picked herself up from the floor, dusting off the forest ground dirt that strayed on her jeans and wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve. "We should probably leave this hunting session here; I have to get back before Jeremy wonders where I am . . ." Elena started, moving across the plane of forest, her feet crunching the leaves below her with each trod she took across the forest ground.

Stefan caught her arm before Elena walked passed him. "Are you sure? Lately, you've just be so . . ." Stefan failed to find words.

"What?" Elena prompted.

"Down." Stefan finished.

Elena huffed exasperatedly. "Well, what do you expect Stefan? The past few week has been hell; I completed my transition in a barn, locked up by Pastor Young, on the verge of death; Klaus turned out to be still alive, and stuck in Tyler's body and Damon . . ." Elena stopped herself from saying '_Damon left_', but Stefan seemed to catch onto what Elena was about to say.

"Damon what?"

Elena sighed. "I forced Damon to leave—practically pushing him out of town and now the two of you will have an even more estranged relationship." Elena said the first thing that came to her mind, which was partially true. She did feel guilty about pushing Damon out of town. But the conflicting feelings she felt towards Damon was something that was becoming more of an increasing concern in Elena's eyes. She was starting to feel different towards Damon . . . more different than she felt in the last few weeks of being human.

Stefan sighed and wrapped his arms around Elena. "You didn't force Damon to leave; he left on his own accord, remember?" Elena rested her head on Stefan's chest and said nothing. They stood in silence for several moments until Stefan finally broke the silence, when he saw Elena inspecting the ring on her finger: "Why don't we give you a reason to feel happier?" Elena looked up at him inquisitively. "A wedding date." Stefan grinned.

Elena opened her mouth. "Stefan . . . I thought we already agreed not to start planning the wedding until after graduation."

"Yes, but . . . maybe having a date to look forward to will help rise you spirits until then." Stefan pressed a dainty kiss to Elena's forehead. "How about June the 22nd, your birthday?"

Elena smiled the biggest smile she could. "June 22nd sounds nice." She forced out, trying to ignore the flash of another Salvatore in her mind.

***.*.***

**I know you're probably disappointed with this not being a Della chapter but I didn't want to ignore the characters back in Mystic Falls, cause it wouldn't feel realistic if I didn't.**

**Regardless, the next chapter (again, coming shortly after this) is a Della scene.**

**Confirmation: Elena is sired.**

**But it won't cause problems for a while yet, since I still need to progress Della's relationship.**


	28. XXVIII

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

They had been sitting in Damon's Mustang for a while now and no words had been exchanged. Bella simply watched the scenery pass by them at a speed that Bella was adamant would get them pulled over. How could Bella explain this situation to the officers who would very well report everything back to Charlie? '_Yeah, instead of going to hospital as my school nurse so told, this lunatic is taking me hiking. Nothing cures concussion than a trek through the woods, right Officer?'_ and then Damon would, with no doubt, chorus it with a sarcastic comment that would get him put behind bars.

For the tenth time during this long lapse of silence, Bella found her eyes glancing over at the oddity beside her, behind the wheel. She glanced at his alluringly perfect face, his muscular hands gripping the wheel and then—like the nine other times—Damon feel her gaze penetrating into him and look at her. Bella would turn away quickly, sheepish to being caught, and stare out of the window—trying to hide fact that her heats were pooling with heat as Damon chuckled silently beside her.

As Bella turned her head to the window, she managed to catch sign of Forks sailing past them and turned to Damon inquisitively. "_Where_ are you taking me for this so-claimed hike, precisely?" Bella testily said, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. Unlike the other times when Bella turned to address him with her silent eyes, Damon didn't turn his attention from the road—the only acknowledgement he made of hearing her question was the flicker of his enticing blue eyes through the dark lashes before they trained back on the road.

Bella hated how beautiful those eyes were.

She made a gruff, throaty sound when Damon made no movement to answer her question and turned back to face the front. "Well, just so you know, that if this is a ploy to lead me into the woods and kill me, I know how to fight back—being the Chief's daughter comes with benefits." Bella smirked. "I have a pretty mean hook."

"And I suppose that La Push boy could vouch for that?" Damon retorted, smirking vividly. "He could also remind me about how you were driven to the ER straight afterwards."

Bella narrowed her eyes at Damon irritatingly. "Charlie should have never told you that story. It's totally exaggerated. It wasn't broken—it was merely sprained from lack-of-practice. I don't exactly make a habit of punching people around the face." Bella jutted her chin, ignoring Damon's chuckles that came with what she had said.

"Oh yeah—sure it was a sprain. Not exaggerated one bit." Damon snorted. "You're tiny. You could barely reach my face, let alone have the strength in those puny pompom-waving arms to knock me unconscious."

Bella gave him a sarcastic smile. "Har-Har. Well, let me remind you, _Mr. Salvatore_ of the phrase—'small things come in big packages'. You won't be calling me tiny or my arms puny the moment you regain consciousness after I've hooked you left, right and centre." Bella smirked with confidence, lifting her legs up and resting them on the dashboard. Damon grumbled, moving to push the legs off the dashboard, but Bella merely scooted the legs further away from him. "Oops. You missed."

Damon looked up with her, flashing her his pearly white teeth. "Oh did I?" Damon dived but Bella dodged out of the way, subsequently causing the car to swerve on the track. Bella shrieked as she felt her body smack against the passenger door of the Mustang. Damon chuckled and went to dive for her legs again. His fingers brushed the smooth skin that peaked at her ankles—momentarily noting how soft the ivory-toned flesh was—but before his hand could coil around one of her ankles, a chiming sound was heard.

Bella giggled when he missed for the third time. "I think someone's trying to call you."

Damon grumbled incoherent nonsense as he settled back in the driver's seat and tugged the cell out from his leather-jacket front pocket and peered at who was calling, his other hand clasping the wheel. Bella fidgeted again, uneasy about the fact Damon's eyes were no-longer trained on the phone. However, through this fidgeting Bella managed to notice the name '_Stefan_' illuminated on the screen.

Stefan . . . as in Damon's brother Stefan? Bella thought, watching Damon roll his eyes, ignore the call and slide the phone back into his jacket pocket. Bella rose her eyebrows and couldn't stop herself from inquiring—being the Nosey Parker she was. "Stefan's your brother, right?" Damon glanced at her quickly, his jaw tightly closed. He nodded curtly before turning away from her. Bella couldn't stop himself from pressing further: "Why was he calling you?"

"I don't recall this being any of your business." Damon retorted, smirking his usual darkly mocking smirk.

Bella narrowed her gaze and felt a flare of defensiveness inside her. "And if _I_ recall correctly, I remember my mother's death being none of your business too." Damon chuckled darkly, and opened his mouth to retort, but Bella was quick to the point. "Just turn around, go back to Forks, and take me home. I don't want to go on this stupid hike—and I didn't in the first place; I was just trying to avoid going to the hospital." Bella mumbled, glaring out onto the road.

"No can do. We're already here." As Damon said this, the Mustang came to a gradual halt and Bella looked around her. She had been so absorbed in what had been happening with Damon that she hadn't acknowledged that they had come off the highway road, and were now presently parked on a dirt road—if she could even call it a road—that was swamped in forest wilderness.

Bella's eyebrows furrowed and couldn't stop herself from pushing open the door of the Mustang and stepping out into the crisp breeze around them. Her wondering eyes trailed over the dirt road beneath her feet and for a second she saw herself looking down at a pair of small feet donned in sparkly red shoes, and not the converses she had on now. An indentation between her brows formed as she looked upwards, glancing down the road where Damon had drove up. And like a moment ago, she saw glimpse of an old beaten-up Chevy truck parking behind Damon's mustang, and a woman she once knew well helping a little girl in pig-tails and sparkly red shoes jumping from the truck to the dirty road ground.

"I've . . . I've been here before." Bella muttered, her voice a bare whisper, looking around her in recognition.

Damon had moved around the Mustang and was now standing beside her, hands tucked into his jacket, his eyes dancing with mischief. "I know."

***.*.***

**Aww! Bella's remembering.**

**Their off to see the meadow, the meadow, the meadow of Forks!**

**^ Lol, don't ask.**

**So don't forget to vote for this story on THE BURNING DIAMOND AWARDS for the Best Damon and Best Supporting Character award. **

**The voting finishes on Jan 5****th**** 2013 so you don't have long.**

**You can vote on the website:**

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**Please vote!**

**Hope you're all having a great holiday!**

**2013 is fast approaching guys!**

**Enjoy yourselves and drink responsively ;-)**


	29. XXIX

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Spring of 1998

_Damon had happened to stumble upon this pathetic inconsequential town purely by coincidence. After a decade of boredom (Stefan was no-where to be found in the current moment of time—Damon assumed he was making extra precautions to make sure his "diabolical older brother" didn't find him and make his eternal life "hell" for another decade or two.) Damon had taken to touring the States for the umpteenth time in Damon's immortality. That was almost six months prior, and here he was—May of 1998—in a small-town called Forks, "Logging Capital" in the state he could only presume as Washington, for the last he recalled he was in Vancouver._

_With one look around the town, Damon could already tell the town was a pointless place to cause mayhem. Even his potential victims were pointless. The place was like Mystic Falls . . . except smaller, colder, and even more boring. Damon hated small towns—especially small towns like these. Damon meandered aimlessly through the town until he hit the forests surrounding the trivial town. The forests proved themselves to be more interesting than the townsfolk themselves, for at some point through his wanderings he came across it. The meadow. _

_Damon was no Stefan—he didn't describe places as "beautiful" or "wonderful"—but . . . well, truth be told, the place _was_ beautiful. The large meadow was filled knee-deep with long, rich green grass and nestled with various wild flowers of blues, whites, yellows and violets. Golden rays of the sun dispersed through the pale-grey clouds and onto the ground, creating an angelic atmosphere to the meadow. This was place Damon could visit again. It was a wonder how something so . . . like it was . . . could possibly found in the most dreariest and ugliest of places?_

"_Beauty can be found in the ugliest of places, Damon." The voice of his mother echoed through his mind. It wasn't often that he thought of his mother, Elizabeth, but when he did . . . it was usually out of fondness. Damon had been close to his mother—much the difference to his relationship with his father—and when he lost here shortly after Stefan's birth, it had struck hard. One of the vaguest memories of his mother he had was her smiling face; she had beauty that would rival the one of Katherine's. A part of Damon contemplated whether it was better that he lost his mother so young . . . that way she would have never had the chance to see him as the man he became._

_With the thoughts of his mother in mind, Damon settled on the bed of the meadow floor, mulling through his thoughts. He stayed there, lost in his own thoughts, lying on the ground of the meadow, for however long it was until he was interrupted. He was interrupted by the sound of tiny feet crashing into the meadow. At first he thought it was a baby deer or sorts, but then he heard the sound of its heart—the heart-beat wasn't as quick as a deer's. It was a human . . . a child at least. He remained still, listening to the human approach him with steps he could only assume was attempting to be soundless. _Attempting_ being the key word._

_Poised and motionless, Damon heard the human stop not far from him. He could hear the deep breathing of her lungs, the eyes on him, and the thumping of its heart. It wasn't frightened, which made Damon wonder what kind of human was this. Most idiotic humans would assume the worst—passing him off as a dead body of sorts, mauled by a wild bear, or something along those lines. Finally, as time grew on, Damon grew tired of the stare penetrating his skin, thus he spoke: "Can I help you?"_

_He spoke in a sarcastic, dry tone._

_The breathing of the human surprisingly didn't change. The human remained calm. _Interesting. _Damon cracked open one eye and peered up at the human; like he had first assumed, it was a child. A human girl. She was small with a tiny heart-shaped face, wife forehead—desperately attempted to be hidden with a thick fringe over her head—and her dark brown hair with reddish highlights was a colour that could only be classed as mahogany. Her hair was donned in pig-tails, ribbons keeping it together. But the most prominent aspect of her appearance was her attire; a blue-and-white checked dress and sparkly red shoes._

_Damon smirked humorously at the image._

_The girl opened her mouth, looking down at him with her large doe-eyes, and took a moment to speak: "Are you homeless like the men on the streets?"_

_Damon smirked with mirth at the girl's question. "That depends." He replied, looking the girl up and down. Passively thinking to himself that the girl was kind of cute—pigtails, curly hair, dark brown eyes 'n all. "What's it to you, Dorothy?" Damon made a jab at her attire. _

_However the girl didn't seem to understand the jab, for her eyebrows furrowed behind her blocky-fringe and an indentation formed between them. Her lips puckered in confusion. Damon felt something tightly squeezing his chest. He casually brushed his chest, where the tightness simulated. It was passed off by the young girl, as she replied._

_There was something about the girl before him that strung something in him. He didn't know whether it was something to do with the blunt innocence of the girl, as she stared down at him with little fear, or whether it was the fact that she looked vaguely like Katherine with her dark hair and eyes but . . . he was curious. He found himself carefully evaluating the child as they shot retorts to each other. She had that given childish essence to her, but the way she spoke—the way she easily conversed—it was like he was talking to an adult. Or at least a child older than her claimed age._

_It struck him how easily this little human girl spoke to him. It was like she had no idea what she was. Granted, it was impossible for her to know what he was, but normally most humans—even the occasional child or two—would notice the unusualness off him. Yet she treated him like any human being—like another friend she had made in the playground with her mother close on hand—and not like the dark, dangerous stranger he was. It baffled and intrigued him._

_Damon chuckled humorously when she announced her father's profession. Chief police. That certainly explained why she was so ballsy. "__Good luck kid, with your kind of Dad, you won't be losing your virginity anytime soon." His amusement heightened when he saw the confusion in the girl's eyes at the word "virginity", a word she was obviously foreign to, but he also saw the way her attention was quickly diverted. When he looked around to see what her eyes were strained so intently upon, he noticed the butterflies fluttering around his head._

_He was long forgotten when the girl began to chase and jump into the air, desperately clawing her hands in the air to catch one, but failing each time she touched back to the ground. Her pout grew when the butterflies soared higher into the ground. Damon involuntarily rubbed his chest as the tightness returned and with a whoosh he moved through the air, his hands clasping the butterflies high above her reach, and appeared at her side, hands tightly clasped._

_The girl's large eyes blinked in confusion, but when he opened his palm, she squealed in glee. A noise that surprisingly didn't irritate him, as it would from another child her age. She scooped the butterflies from his hand with her own miniscule one and looked down at the butterflies in amazement. "Thank you Prince Eric!" There was something about the way she smiled, the way he looked at her, made the strange tightness inside her grow. But before he could even question the matter, the sound of a new presence became heard; with quick thinking, Damon disappeared from the meadow just as a hectic looking woman, beautiful, and very much related to the young girl that caught his fascination so much broke through the meadow. _

_The girl, whom he recalled her name as being Bella, showed her mother the butterflies in her palm with utter glee and when she turned to acknowledge Damon, she noticed his absence with bafflement and a hint of dejection. Her mother tugged her out of the meadow, away from Damon. Damon watched them go, craning his ears, and listened to them disappear into the shadows of the forest. They were at least a few metres away from the meadow's entrance, when she heard Bella mutter:_

"_Mommy . . . what's a _virginity_?"_


	30. XXX

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"You _know_?" Bella retorted, narrowing her eyes on the raven-haired vampire in suspicion.

Damon merely smirked, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets, and rocked back-and-forth on his boot heels with utter ease. The memory that had once appeared before his eyes had drifted away with the subtle breeze."I _know_." he clarified. His eyes were dancing with mirth as he watched Bella opened and re-open her mouth soundlessly, baffled, and struggling to grasp the words she needed. The look was comical in Damon's eyes. Damon then sighed and stepped forward. "As much fun as it is to watch you open and close your gob like a fish out of water, time is of the essence my love." Damon mockingly tapped his wrist for empathises.

Bella scoffed and chafed her boots on the dirt road. "You're an idiot."

"I've heard worse." Damon merely shrugged. Bella's eyes narrowed further at his impassive appearance. It felt as if he was hiding something . . . something that Bella couldn't exactly rub off the shoulder and pass off as his aloof attitude. "I'll lead the way down memory lane shall I?" _Memory Lane_? Bella recited in her head. She was really beginning to worry where Damon was beginning to take her now. He wasn't going to rape her was he? Bella shuddered, but despite the thought in her head, she followed after Damon through the mass of canopy hanging from the trees and into the rocky landscape of the forest.

"Wherever—whatever—this place is you're taking me to, I find it appropriate to remind you of our prior discussion; I wasn't joking about my mean right hook . . . _Wufft_!" Bella puffed as she stumbled over an uprooting tree branch. Damon glanced over his shoulder and merely snickered at her, turning his head around and continued effortlessly moving through the forest. When his back was turned again, Bella glared daggers into his leather-jacketed donned back, as she did so she forgot to keep her eyes on the floor and felt her foot get lodged onto another uprooted tree. "Eeek!" she squeaked, feeling herself wobble and grabbed onto a near tree trunk to steady herself.

Damon paused and turned around. "Y'know if you considered glaring at the ground rather than my back, you'll make it there without a broken bone." Bella huffed, brushing off the pieces of bark that stuck to her hands when she pulled it away from the tree-trunk, choosing not to look at Damon knowing full well he'd have that pretentious smirk on his face. "We wouldn't want any more damage to come of your pretty body of yours, now would we?" Damon crudely said.

Bella looked up at him and smiled bittersweet with foreign kindness. "Has anyone ever mentioned that you're a pervert?"

Damon shrugged, considering Bella's question. "On more than a few occasions."

"Yeah, well, you _are_ a pervert."

Damon turned away from her, clucking his tongue. "All part of the package deal, sweetheart."

"And does this package deal come with full refund? I'm not quite a satisfied customer." Bella retorted in a sickly sweet tone. Damon looked over his shoulder again and glared at the bittersweet grin on her pretty heart-shaped face. Bella almost snickered at his face, the fact she had managed to caught him out in the game, but chose to watch where she was walking; knowing her luck, she'd snicker in his face and then trip over another uprooted tree branch—or more likely: her own left feet.

Damon watched Bella climb up the dirt wilderness lane until Bella was by his side. He looked down at her, for he was a good foot taller than she was, and relinquished on her flushed cheeks. The redness of her cheeks brought an inner hungriness to the surface; in momentary indiscretion, Damon wondered what it would be like to taste her blood—she, bar Elena, was the only girl he had spent so much time with and hadn't drank her blood. It made the curiosity of what the substance running through every vein circulating her body would taste like. Sweet, supple, yet tangy he imagined.

"Uh . . . are you OK?" Damon blinked. Bella was staring up at him with intensely, her warm brown eyes slightly narrowed.

Damon felt the hunger slowly retract from the surface as he looked into the warmth of her eyes. "Yeah, of course—why wouldn't I be?" Damon feigned casualness with a snort.

"I just thought I saw something change on the face . . ."-Bella blinked rapidly and shook her head-". . . Never mind. My eyes are obviously playing tricks on me."

Damon's looked down at a flustered Bella calculatingly. "Evidantly." And ignoring the problem that could possibly have arisen (it wasn't like it would matter if she saw his face change anyway; he could compel it out of her), reaching down to grasp his hand with hers. As his fingers entwined with hers, he couldn't help but notice the way he felt a strange sense of warmth that almost resembled belonging. Her hands were so small, smooth, and feeble. "C'mon invalid." Damon said in a nonchalant voice, taking a step forth, and tugged the soft hand in his.

But Bella didn't cooperate and when he looked back over her shoulder, he noticed she was staring down at the entwined hands. "What?"

Bella snapped her head up at the sound of his voice. He was smiling at her so innocently—like he knew what he was doing to her, but refusing to speak upon it, as if he'd rather watch her wither in silence. "Nothing." Swallowing, Bella tugged the hand from Damon's. "I can walk by myself perfectly fine, thanks." Bella mumbled, letting her hair become a dark shield from him.

Damon's chest grumbled with laughter. She had barely taken a foot forward when she felt his hand curl around hers again, this time it was tighter, _commanding_. "I beg to differ." Damon teased. And when Bella opened her mouth to protest, Damon quickly spoke up again: "Ah ah, no more complaining. Not unless you want to get there by nightfall. Now move it."

And this time, Bella did as he asked, silently letting the hand that grasped hers tightly over the wilderness route down 'Memory Lane'. Meanwhile she attempted to keep her face from heating up, her hands from sweating and her heart from beating eccentrically. _Did he have any idea what he was doing to her? _Just as Bella thought this, Damon glanced at her, flashing her one of those heart-stopping full-white-teeth smiles. Bella swallowed and inwardly huffed. _Of course he did._

Stupid Damon Salvatore.


	31. XXXI

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"How much further do we have to walk?"

After a long ten minutes of silence, Bella found herself breaking the silent atmosphere between them with a question. Their hands were still tightly clasped, neither making the movement to take the hands away—though Bella refused to admit the real reason of why she hadn't taken her hand away from his. He proved to be a great shoulder to lean on when her left feet deceived her, she'd tell herself, completely ignoring the nagging in the back of her head that was telling her something of the complete different.

"Not far." Damon feebly answered, not even glancing at her, as he glanced up the track ahead of them. They seemed to have finished hiking up the hill and have reached levelled ground now, yet Bella still managed to trip over everything, anything, and nothing. The girl was a disaster waiting to happen.

Bella rolled her eyes. "You said the same thing ten minutes ago."

Damon stopped, turning to face her, their hands entwined between the both of them. "Ah ah," Damon waggled his finger, looking at her with a patronizing look in his beautiful eyes. "What did I tell you about no more complaining?" Damon smirked. "In fact, as of now, it is now forbidden to complain for the entirety of this trip."

"_Forbidden_?" Bella retorted.

Damon picked up the hand he held and brought it to his lips, making strange things happen in the pit of Bella's stomach. "_Forbidden_." He clarified in a husky tone. Bella felt a wave of heat wash over her, her heart flutter, and her stomach do flops when she felt his lukewarm breath against the skin of her hands. He was looking up at her, with that antagonizing yet perfect smirk, the smoothness of his lips brushing feather-light touches against the skin of her hand.

Adamant not to show Damon she was affected by his obvious attempts of making her go gooey inside, Bella swallowed back her flustered appearance with an unladylike snort. "This is ridiculous. _You're _ridiculous. . ."-Bella squeaked when she felt something sharp pinch her backside-". . . Did you just pinch my _ass_?" Bella turned on the mischievously grinning Damon.

"That's what you get when you complain, Dorothy." Damon impishly replied, watching Bella move her free hand to nurse her backside. "Don't blame the rules Bella,"-Damon sang at Bella's putout expression-"Blame the game." Damon flashed Bella a casual wink, squeezing the hand he still grasped in his own, and the two continued their hike—though Bella a little begrudgingly, hand still nursing her numbing pain radiating from her backside, and grumbling incoherently under her breath.

"I hope we get to this stupid place soon." Damon managed to pick up from her grumblings and flashed his free hand behind their backs, to her backside. "_Damon_!" Bella shrieked loudly, her voice echoing through the words, and cupped the other cheek. "You have _got_ to stop that." and she stomped. Bella Swan _actually _just stomped the ground with her foot like a petulant child. Oh the field-day Jess would be having if she was here to see that.

Damon puckered his lips mockingly, mimicking Bella's stomp. "You have _got_ to stop that." Damon teased in a girlish high-pitched voice.

"I _do not _sound like that."

"_I_ DO NOT sound like that."

"Act your age, Salvatore. What are you? 10?"

"_Act your age, Salvatore. What are you? 10?_"

"You have no idea how much I want to punch you right now." And when Damon opened his mouth, Bella clenched her fist and swung it to him, colliding with his leather-jacketed arm, causing the words the fly soundless out of Damon's mouth. Bella snickered watching how Damon stopped talking, mouth open wide, and glanced between the arm that she had just hit and Bella looking like a child who had just had its sandcastle knocked down. "Are you going to shut up now?" Bella brightly said, grinning from ear to ear in satisfaction.

Damon's lips puckered. "Jeesh, you weren't joking with the mean right hook."

Bella giggled. "I hope I've taught you a valuable lesson."

Damon's eyebrow cocked. "And what that might be?"

"That a girl as the equal capacity to kick your ass." Bella let out a giggling shriek when Damon dived for her. She attempted to turn and run, but he was too fast—_impossibly fast_—for, at one minute she was standing on the ground, and the next minute her feet had been lifted from the ground and her body swung over his shoulder. "_Damon_!" Bella hollered at the top of her lungs. Damon's arm coiled around the joint of her knees, holding her to him. "Put me down this _instant_!"

"I don't think so." Bella began to hit his back with clenched fists. The ground was now moving beneath her head as Damon began to walk. "Damon . . . put. Me. Down." Her reply was given as a snicker. Bella's teeth gritted. "Fine. So be it." and Bella did something that she'd never have dared to do in her wildest dreams. She did something that was completely Jess-Stanley-esque. She did something that made her insides scream in embarrassment afterwards.

She. Bit. Damon's. Ass.

_What the hell Bella Swan?_

Damon stopped. There was a silence.

_Oh Bella . . . what have you done? You just bit Damon Salvatore's ass!_

"Bella . . .?" Damon slowly asked.

"Yes?" Bella squeaked, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Did you just . . . _bite_ my ass?"

Bella inhaled shakily. "Maybe." She squeaked back.

There was another pause. This time it was a pause of consideration from Damon's part. "Hm. Maybe you're not as innocent as I first thought out. You're just full of surprises aren't you Dorothy?" Her blood rushed to her cheeks. Damon seemed to sense her embarrassment, for he then added: "It's nothing to be an ashamed of, Dorothy, I like a saucy minx in bed."

_Please God, save me now from this embarrassment! _"I'm not a . . . _saucy minx_!" Bella spluttered.

"It's OK, sweetheart, I'll soon get you embracing that inner sex demon in no time."

"_What?!_"

That was a joke, right? Right?!

Damon ignored her question. "We're here!" Damon's loud voice announced. And just as Bella said it, the light around her changed as they broke out of the abyss of the forest shadows and into the rare sunshine. Bella watched as Damon's boots moved into thick, lush green grass that was soon joined by beautiful wild flowers nestled within the nest of wild grass. Bella felt Damon place her back onto the ground, grasping hold of her shoulders and turning her on the spot to face their destination. "Welcome, Dorothy . . . to Paradise."

Bella gasped.


	32. XXXII

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

It was the meadow from her memories. It hadn't changed one bit; it was just as beautiful as she remembered, perhaps even more beautiful now that she was looking at it for the first time in years with matured eyes. The whole place before her seemed to bring a sense of familiarity, warmth and tranquillity over her, like all the worries inside her seemed to float away into the gentle breeze that drifted over the beautiful clearing. The whole place even seemed to have that golden hue about it that made you contemplate whether any of this was real.

As her eyes skimmed across the lush green grass, nestled with dandelions and wild blue-white-and-violet flowers alike, she momentarily saw her child self and her mother running through the meadow grinning and giggling. Her mother was casing her, her arms stretched out wide, the most beautiful smile on her face and the heart pendant necklace bouncing around her neck. This had been the place where her mother would take her in the spring and summer seasons when Charlie had been at work. Her mother had called it their secret meadow, where no-body but they could find, and at the youthful age she was the proposition of having a "secret meadow" excited her.

Bella glanced momentarily at the raven-haired man watching her. But maybe the meadow wasn't quite as secret as she first thought . . .

"What do you think?" Damon's voice asked her.

Bella inhaled sharply. Should she mention the incident of 1998? "It's beautiful," Bella took a moment's pause. "And very familiar."

Damon's eyebrow cocked. "Oh?"

Bella walked forward, letting her hand drop to her side, her fingers outstretch and brush her hands and fingertips over the tips of the lush green knee-high grass. Water droplets from the rainfall that had once clung to the grass were now smearing onto the open palm of her hands. "My mother and I used to come here when I was a child every summer and spring until she . . ." Bella dropped her head, trailing off mid-point. She was glad her back was facing Damon, so he couldn't see the perturbed look on her face.

She heard Damon move through the grass behind her, approaching her. "You miss your mother a lot." He stated, rather than questioned, as if he already knew the answer.

"Of course I do," Bella muttered. "She was my Mom." Damon was now standing beside her. Bella couldn't help but notice, thirteen years on, and he still looked just as much out of place with his dark and mysterious physique. Bella's stomach unhinged and clenched with nerves as she looked up at his unchanged, just as flawless face. "Wouldn't you miss your mother if you were in my position?" Bella retorted.

Damon lips curved into a half-hearted smile. "I lost my mother before I could finish learning to read and write."

Bella's felt a wave of guilt. "I'm sorry, that was completely inappropriate of me. I don't know what came over me . . ."

Damon ducked his head, hiding a smile as he observed Bella's meanderings and interrupted her: "I barely even remember her." Damon commented and then with an afterthought added: "And the things I do remember of her were things I would not like to remember anymore." Damon stressed. Bella couldn't help there was some rooted tension there—something had happened around his mother.

"May I ask how she died . . .?" Bella softly said, pushing away the strange yearnings to comfort Damon.

"Childbirth complications." Damon quickly said. . . too quickly. "And you . . . how did yours die?"

"Car crash?" Bella said, more like it was a question. Damon's eyebrows rose. "That was what my Dad said it was, the night it happened, and for a long while I didn't know any better than not to believe it was that. I mean they had pulled out the totalled car from the ditch but . . ."

"But. . .?" Damon prompted.

Bella looked up at Damon and sighed exasperatedly. "They never found the body." Bella's stomach hated the unsettling feeling in her stomach when she reencountered the death of her mother. "The forensics said it's possible the body was thrown out of the car when it collided, and when they found no body in the perimeter . . . well, it was then said that a bear too close to town probably dragged off the body."

Damon looked down at Bella thoughtfully. "And you don't believe that story?"

"A part of me does." Bella shrugged. "A part of me doesn't." Bella turned away and began to move through the meadow. Damon subconsciously followed after her until eventually Bella stopped. "But what's the use? What does it matter if I believe my Mom died in a car-crash or not? There's no way in hell that she's going to pop up out of nowhere after all this time." Bella moved to sit down, but noticed the wetness of the ground.

Damon did to, because the next thing she knew his leather jacket was being lain across the ground.

Bella looked up at Damon, sceptically, but muttered. "Thanks." Bella placed herself down on the jacket and when Damon moved to sit down next to her, she shimmied sideways so that Damon had enough space to sit down on the jacket too. Damon sat down, his torso brushing Bella's side, and stretched his legs out, his muscular arms balancing himself from behind his body.

"Have you ever talked to you Dad about this?"

Bella couldn't help but snort. "No way." Bella quickly said and then, sighing, she added: "Dad . . . he wouldn't be able to deal with it. He still loves her and for me to say something like that . . . it would be like punching an old wound." Bella pushed her legs up to her body, her eyes focused on the ground as her fingers began to tug, pull and play with the grass on the ground. In all this time, Damon had been staring at her—she could feel the burning of his gaze penetrating her back.

"Your Dad is lucky to have you." Damon spoke in a nonchalant tone.

And when Bella glanced at him, he noticed he was looking anywhere but her—staring out in the opposite direction. It made Bella wonder whether he wasn't exactly used to saying something that involved feeling or being genuine. Nonetheless, Bella took the compliment with a blush and a sheepish duck of her head. Damon glanced at her in time to see her looking down, her dark mahogany hair forming a dome around her.

"You really can't take compliments can you?"

Bella said nothing. She was now pulling at the grass beneath with more strength than before.

Damon sighed when she blatantly ignored him, reaching forward and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, his lukewarm fingertips brushing the top of her ear. "You'd think a beautiful girl like you would know how to take a common compliment." Damon murmured. "I guess that's what makes you so different from the others." Damon thought, thinking back to Katherine or even Elena. Both of them were aware of their beauty . . . but Bella? She had no idea. Not one clue of how beautiful she was. It was mesmerizing yet utterly frustrating at the same time.

Bella peaked up through her dark, thick lashes. "I don't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment." Bella snorted very unladylike through her embarrassment.

Damon's lips stretched into a full-tooth impish grin. "Take it as both."

Bella rolled her eyes, a small smile on her lips. "Well then thanks . . ." Bella then moved her hand forward, pinching the skin of his arm. ". . . And fuck you."

Damon chuckled, reaching up to rub the piece of skin of which Bella had pinched. "A lady like you shouldn't have such a foul mouth."

"Welcome to the 21st century baby." Bella retorted with a smirk.


	33. XXXIII

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Damon opened his mouth to reply when a buzzing sound came from Bella's pocket, followed by the sensation of vibrating. The both of them looked down at Bella's jean pocket to see the bulging shape of her phone in her pocket. Damon watched wordlessly as Bella pried the cell from her pocket and looked at the cell screen. Bella bit her lip when she saw the Caller ID, her finger hovering over the green button. Damon, noticing her hesitation, spoke up:

"Who is it?"

Bella sighed, looking down at the screen still. "It's Jess." Bella's eyes flickered up to Damon's and back down again. "She's probably calling to see how I am. I should . . ." The words disappeared from Bella's mouth as soon as the cell was wrenched from Bella's hand. "What . . ." Bella was confused to what had happened—one minute she was about to press down on the green button, the next minute the cell wasn't in Bella's hand anymore. "Damon, give me that back." Bella whined, annoyed.

Damon, smirking from ear to ear, shook his head. "Nope."

"Damon—give it back."

Damon held up the cell, high above his head, and began to move his fingers over the cell screen. "I'm sure you friend won't mind if I just . . . reject the call." Damon snickered as his finger pressed the red button, and at Bella groan. Damon looked down at her to see that she had been on her knees, her chest inches from pressing against his, ready to pull the cell from his hand.

"Why did you do that, Damon?"

Damon lifted a finger and tapped the tip of Bella's nose patronizingly. "Rule Number Two: no interruptions." Damon then moved his cell from his hand, slipping it into his pocket. "I think I'll keep hold of this for now." Damon smirked, watching the way Bella's ears turned pink with irritation. "Just to make sure you stick to the rules properly." Damon said in a flippantly light tone as he pocketed the cell.

Bella huffed, putting her hand sassily on her hips. "Is there any other so-called _rules_ I should know about?"

Damon's mouth opened to reply and for the second time in the past few minutes, a sound dispersing into the air failed him. Except this time the ringtone was different; Damon sighed, pulling his own cell from his leather jacket pocket and his teeth clenched when he looked at the Caller ID. It was Stefan . . . again. Damon was starting to contemplate on whether he should block the number or get a new phone entirely. Damon had just managed to press the red button, when the cell was snatched from his hand by a very feminine hand. He looked up, eye brow rose to see his cell held up by Bella's hand.

"_Rule Number Two: no interruptions_." Bella recited mockingly in a deep voice. Just as Bella said this, the chiming from Damon's phone started again. Bella looked at the screen, seeing the name 'Stefan' displayed across it, and looked up at Damon. "It's your brother." And then a glimmer of mischief passed through her eyes. "Y'know, maybe I should just answer it. This is after all the third time he's called today, right?" Bella's finger moved over the green button.

Damon rolled his eyes and shrugged simultaneously. "Fine. Do it. I have nothing it hide." Damon taunted.

And just then the calling stopped. Damon's brother seemed to have given up, ending the call, causing Damon to chuckle and Bella to exhale. She looked up at Damon through her lashes and held out the hand with his cell. "Swap?" Bella offered in a sweet, innocent voice. Damon reached out, snatching the phone from her grasp and quickly pocketed it. "OK . . . Now give me back my phone." Bella held out her palm expectantly.

Damon patted the pocket of which held her phone. "Maybe later."

Bella huffed but made no move to complain, knowing exactly where that would lead her . . . Instead, she slumped back on her knees and there was a moment of silence until Bella spoke up again. "Why aren't you answering your brother's calls?" Bella curiously asked, her head cocked to the side, and watching Damon with a sense of thoughtfulness.

"Because he wants to talk about someone I don't want to talk about." Damon answered in a feigned casual tone, looking up at the sky.

Bella simplified what he said. "So . . . you're ignoring him?" Damon merely shot her a passive look, saying nothing. "It doesn't sound like you and your brother have a very simple relationship."

"When are relationships with siblings ever _simple_?" Damon snorted. Bella ducked her head and said nothing. Damon noticed this and then sighed: "There was a time when me and Stefan had a '_simple relationship_'." Damon quoted with his index and middle fingers on both hands. "But that all ended soon enough." Damon said in a clipped tone, his face perturbed as he glared at the ground. "There's no such thing as a simple relationship. Especially with siblings."

Bella looked at Damon warily. "It sounds to me like you don't have much faith in relationships . . . or love for that matter."

Damon snapped his head to hers. "And what makes you think that?"

"It's just an impression." Bella shrugged.

Damon's lips thinned and for a moment he was silent. Bella waited patiently for him to speak again and it came several seconds later. "Love is overrated. Love also isn't a two-way street; when you fall in love, and all goes to hell, you can't turn back. You can't turn away and run from it. You can only face the heartbreak." Damon muttered in a monotone, glaring ahead.

There was a long moment of silence.

Bella exhaled loudly.

Damon turned to her. "What? Too deep for the awkward, inexperienced teenager?" Damon snapped.

Bella flinched. "No, n-no." Bella shook her head. Damon could see she was trying to say something, but forced himself not to snap again—there was something inside of him that felt almost guilty in the way that he snapped at her just then. He watched her . . . waiting. After several attempts, Bella finally opened her mouth and spoke. "I . . . I had two sisters. Heidi and Chelsea. Chelsea disappeared when I was three and Heidi died when I was five."

***.*.***

**Thank you everyone for the great response so far! I've been really getting back into writing this past week now I have no other obligations to prioritize my life. But anyway, thanks again for all the support you've been giving this story. I've noticed this story is getting close to 400 reviews, so I thought I'd just write a little message as a thank you to everyone who has favourited, alert'd and reviewed this story. You guys are amazing.**

**And as for this story, you've probably come to the end of this chapter thinking: "my God, how much death has Bella had in her life?" Her mother's dead and now we've discovered she has two dead sisters too! It's all relevent to what is going to happen in this story. I know a lot of you were saying that you couldn't see where it's going, well it is going somewhere! I promise. It's all slowly coming together. The clues of which have been: Carlisle, Her Mom's death, Heidi and Chelsea, the mystery guy at the diner & last not but least . . . the animal attacks!  
**

**Hope you're enjoying the story so far guys. I'm really enjoying writing it.  
**


	34. XXXIV

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Damon watched as Bella shifted awkwardly beside him and continued to speak. "Chelsea had been the eldest, she had been born when my Mom was in college before she and my Dad married. From what Mom used to say of her, she was the perfect daughter—pretty, confident and naturally talented—but what my Dad said of her was the complete opposite."-Bella shook her head, a half-hearted smile appearing on her lips momentarily, absorbed in thought-"Dad called her a wild child—he said she inherited the flightiness and free-spiritedness that Mom was renowned for. Bearing in mind that's coming from a Dad who's a cop." Bella let out a small laugh and then sighed. "Like I said she disappeared when I was three."

Damon cocked his head sideways. "How old was she . . . when she disappeared?"

"Sixteen." Bella awkwardly shuffled again. "They searched solely for two years before they announced it was a cold case . . . two months before Heidi's death." Bella reached up to and wrapped her arms around her stomach self-consciously, a shield of hair forming once again. Damon was beginning to wonder whether this was a habit of self-preservation. "Heidi . . . she was eighteen when she . . . when she . . ." Bella sucked in a breath, failing to finish it. There were a few long moments of silence when finally Bella glanced up at Damon, warily, only to find him looking at her with an excogitate look upon his face. Bella moistened her lips with her tongue and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "What? What are you thinking?" Bella looked up at him through her lashes.

Damon exhaled and finally spoke his musing expression still apparent. "Only that, you're barely eighteen and you've lost so much. It's . . ."

"Don't you dare say _sad_." Bella snapped. "I don't need pity. I don't need _anyone's_ pity—nor do I want or care for it."

Damon's lip quirked. "I was going to say peculiar." Bella rolled her eyes skyward. "Were you close to your sisters?"

Bella sighed exasperatedly. "No." she firmly said. "I was three and five when they both left my life. I barely remember either of them, in all honesty, yet people expect me to have a whole montage of fond memories about them." Bella swallowed thickly, her lips setting into a thin line and her eyes glistening as she looked away from Damon, into the distance. "Sometimes . . . I even struggle to remember them. I-I mean I have this one memory of the both of them; I was three and I was somewhere I can't recall. I only remember the bright sunshine and the butterflies. They were handing my hands and laughing at something or another . . . looking back now, if it hadn't of been for the picture on the mantelpiece or the photo in Dad's wallet, then I wouldn't even be able to place their faces to their names." Bella quickly reached up to brush away the escaping tear. Sniffing, a teary eyed Bella glanced at Damon, a bittersweet trembling smile on her lips. "Does that make me a bad person? Does that make me a bad person that I can't even remember my bed sisters let alone mourn their deaths?"

Damon shook his head. "I know bad people, Dorothy, and believe me you're not one of them."

A sudden rush of embarrassment came over her when Bella realized she had been crying and pouring her heart out to a practical stranger. "Oh God." Bella groaned, quickly pushing away her tears with the back of her hand. "I can't believe I'm crying to a guy I've only known for barely two days." Bella embarrassingly said. Damon merely shrugged. "It's your fault you know." Bella accused and when Damon looked up at her, he saw the precarious smile on her pretty face. Even without make-up, nose red, skin blotchy and eyes bloodshot she still managed to look pretty.

"My fault?"

Bella laughed breathlessly and nodded. "You're the one that brought me to this beautiful place and manipulated me with that nice-guy act."

"Kind act?" Damon retorted, eyebrow raised.

Bella shook her head amusingly. "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm on about!" Bella laughed. "The entire time we've been here you've barely made one perverted comment."

Damon smirked, leaning sideways towards her. "Maybe you're wrong. Maybe the pervert was _actually _the act and _actually _I'm just a nice guy in disguise." Bella snorted. "You really can't consider that I have any good intentions, do you?" Damon unconsciously shuffled closer towards her.

Bella raised her eyebrows. "_Do_ you have good intentions?"

Damon merely smirked and shrugged.

"I'll take that as a no then." Bella retorted with a chuckle. "So . . . what was your real reason to bringing me here? Other than for the trip down _Memory Lane_." Bella quoted with her index and middle fingers sarcastically. Damon remained silent; watching Bella with his large irksome eyes and vexatious, perfect smirk. "Well—come on then,"-Bella prompted, lightly nudging him-"What were your true intentions? To unravel the death toll in my family? Find out some gruesome, dirty secrets about the Chief's daughter?" Damon rolled his eyes at both of these. "OK, OK, how about, crassly putting it as my best friend would, pop the Chief's daughter's cherry?" Bella joked.

Damon looked at Bella and chuckled. "Why, am I mistaken in saying that was an indulgent attempt of offering me your body, Miss Swan?"

"_No way_!" Bella quickly said, perhaps too quickly for her own good.

Damon smirked at his answer, leaning forward. "Does my body repulse you?" Bella gulped at his close proximity. "Do I repulse you, Dorothy?" Bella inhaled sharply when Damon's face became inches from her, his lips brushing against hers. Her entire body felt frozen to the bone and it took every bone in her body to move backwards, away from Damon's tempting lips and her reluctant desire.

"Well . . . I suppose you could say that." Bella stuttered, the first words that came to her ear dispersing from her lips. "I mean, a person would naturally be repulsed by someone that hasn't changed a day thirteen years ago." The words blurred out of her mouth before she could even register it, but they were heard as clear as day, for Damon's face dropped and his mouth opened in a silent gasp. "Right . . . yeah, I forgot we were meant to be keeping this hidden. _Oops._"


	35. XXXV

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

The next thing Bella was aware of was the tight hand coiling around her throat.

Her breathing lodged in her throat when the hand clamped itself around her throat, subsequently followed by the sound of her chocking when the hand around her neck tightened. It was difficult to register what had happened at first—for it came from no-where—but when she clumsily grabbed desperately at the chock-hold around her neck, she felt the bulky ring on one of the fingers, and then finally her eyes seemed to see; she saw the rage-contorted face of Damon Salvatore.

Damon Salvatore was _attacking _her.

A rush of fear overcame her at that new realization.

"How do you still remember?" Bella heard Damon's hissing voice over her mental panic. He no longer seemed the beautiful, mysteriously handsome man anymore; there was something primal in his eyes that frightened her vastly. She wanted nothing more than to be released from this grip and run away—_anything_ to get away from him, for that was how frightened she felt looking into those coldly fiery eyes. She just wanted safety and security. As she thought that, the grip around her neck tightened. She chocked again.

"L-let g-go of-f me . . ." Bella chocked over her words and desperately struggled for air.

Damon looked into her eyes and seeing the glimmer of desperation in her eyes, he felt his hold lessen. She dropped to the ground, her back colliding with the interior of his leather jacket, her red neck and her chest panting. "Answer me." Damon spat.

Bella struggled to pull herself up using her hands, grasping her neck gingerly, nursing it as she tugged herself away from him. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Bella fired back. "You just tried to strangle me!" Bella spat back at him, her eyes wide filled with a dark mixture of fear and anger. She was continuing to pull herself away from Damon, now a good few feet from him.

"I said . . ."-Damon moved towards her again. He was too quick to acknowledge-". . . _Answer me_." Damon's voice was firm, cold and icy. It was like the Damon she once knew was replaced with the dangerous man that he was now. Bella struggled to speak. "Do you know what I am?"

"Y-Yes!" Bella spluttered. "A psychopath that doesn't age and just tried to kill me!" Bella wiped away the sweat that was forming at her hairline. "What the hell are you on about—of course I remember! It's not every day that you come across the guy you met as a five year old, only to realize he hasn't changed a day in the past thirteen years." Bella almost shouted hysterically. "If anything I should be asking _you _what you are."

Damon became silent. He was watching her with fastidious eyes. After a while he spoke again: "You really have no clue what I am, do you?"

Bella scoffed. "I thought psychopath was a pretty good assumption."

And almost like that—like the click of a finger—the smirk was back. "Oh baby, you have no idea whatsoever."

Bella was starting to wonder seriously if this guy had mental issues. Maybe he had an extreme case of bipolar.

"No I don't." Bella exhaled deeply. _But I'm starting to wondering if I should have an idea, _Bella mentally thought as she watched the former Damon return, smirk in place and shoulders unclenching. He was relaxed, except his eyes were still cautious—the way he looked at a spot just to the side of her face . . . it was almost like he was thinking, considering, something. And Bella had a uncanny feeling it had something to do with her. Bella inhaled thickly, deciding to bite the bullet. "Are you going to tell me what that was about?"

Damon blinked out of his trance. "Tell you about what?"

"Are you kidding?!" Bella incredulously said. "You just tried to _kill_ me!"

Damon smirked. "Now _that's _an exaggeration on your behalf."

With a rush of anger, Bella pulled herself up from the ground. "_You've got to be kidding me._" Bella muttered under her breath. She marched past Damon as quick as she could, her feet loudly rustling through the long knee-length grass. Bella heard Damon call after her, asking where she was going. Bella, whom was now a good few feet away from him, turned to him glaring. "Away from the psychopath that tried to kill me!"

"Oh _come on_." She heard Damon say behind her almost tiredly as she turned around again, marching towards the spot in the edge of the meadow that they had entered through.

"Y'know what, Salvatore?" Bella called sassily over her shoulder. "You wait until I tell my Dad about this! Mark my words, if my Dad doesn't shoot you in the face with his shotgun, then you'll certainly be finding yourself on a plane back to Virginia . . . or whatever psychopath-breeding place you come from." Bella shouted, angrily pushing away the hair that was flying around in the increasing wind behind her ear, flying her other hand around her for empathises. She was about to bring her hand back down, when she felt someone grab it.

It was Damon of course.

"Get off me Damon." Bella tensed.

"No."

"_I said_: get off me Damon!"

Damon turned her around. Her breathing quickened when her chest was pressed against his. "No." Damon firmly said. Bella began to struggle again. "Stop it, Bella; at least let me apologize. Then I'll let you go."

"_Apologize_? You seriously think an apology will make up for what you did to me? Need I remind you that you tried to _strangle me_?!"

Damon exhaled. "Have you considered that you're _maybe_ overreacting?"

Bella tugged her hand from Damon's grip, yet again she was unsuccessful. "There is no capability of overreacting in this situation, Damon? Do you even grasp the seriousness of the action you just committed on me?" Bella yelled. "You just committed a _crime_—you attacked an innocent! Which, might I remind you, is quite ironic considering that my Dad hired you to stop this attacking of innocents!"

"So what—you're going to tell _Daddy_ on me?" Damon snarled. "Well, let me tell you something, _Dorothy_, if you even try to tell your precious Daddy I will show you what I'm capable of. And believe me, what happened back there? It wasn't even the _worst_ of what I'm capable of."

***.*.***

**Thank you for helping me hit 400! You guys are amazing! Seriously. The reviews you send are so great to read and if I had the time to reply back to every one of you, I definitely would!  
**

**But there is something I'd like to say towards those who have posted what you could classify as "hate-mail". I understand people are allowed to voice their opinions, but please if you have something nasty to say, don't say it at all. If you don't like the way this story is being written, find another story; there is millions of stories like mine here on FF, so spend your time finding a story that you like and enjoy rather than being rude on mine. And frankly, if you're going to continue, then I'm just going to block you which is a shame because I don't want to be put in a position like that.  
**

**Well . . . aside from that, thank you fore reading!  
**


	36. XXXVI

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Is that a _threat_?" Bella seethed.

His face was so close to hers now that it was almost painful. His nose was brushing against hers and she could feel the cool air of his breath spraying across her face, and specifically her lips—which, much to her body's unwelcome excitement, was inches from pressing against his. And as for his eyes—those sharp, impenetrable blue orbs—they stared daringly into hers. It was almost like he was challenging her—challenging her to fight back . . . and that is exactly what she did. If there was something she'd learnt from coming from a broken family and raised by a cop, was that you _never_ back down without a fight.

Damon grinned snidely. "Why don't you tell me, sweetheart?"

Bella sucked in a sharp intake of air through her nostrils. "If you're threatening me, then I will . . ."-

"Tell your Dad?" Damon hit the bull's-eye with mirth dancing in his eyes and playing on his lips. Bella suddenly became aware of the fact that Damon still tightly clasped her hand when he moved it to his chest, placing it there, and began to tauntingly move his callous fingers up and down the skin of the back of her hand and her dainty fingers. "Now . . . is that what you _really_ want to do? I mean, if you tell your Dad, you know it could go in more than one ways. He could _one_: not believe you—which, in my opinion, is a more likely possibility. Or _Two_: telling your Dad what you know, and even if he does believe you, could cause him to be placed in unwanted danger." Damon's gleam widened when she heard her increase pace of heartbeat and her quickened breath. Her fingers were now digging into the t-shirt he wore—he could feel her feeble nails digging into his chest. He began to move his finger down her hand, to her arm. Further . . . further . . . "I see the way you look at me. You're frightened of me now you know what I'm capable of—not to mention intimidated. Albeit, the latter you refuse to admit, because your sense of pride refuses to admit that I have any sort of superiority over you."

Bella's fingers dug deeper. "You _bastard_." She felt his chest rumble with his laughter.

"But just for the record, honey, you're putting up a pretty good front—if it wouldn't have been for those big, open-book eyes of yours you would have had me fooled." And when Bella opened her mouth to speak, Damon held up a finger. "Ah, ah—I'm not finished." Damon unclenched the fingers of that hand he held up and slowly moved it to her face; he brushed aside the strands of mahogany hair that dropped over her face and slowly moved it towards her face, his hands watching his hands movement with poise. When his hand was cupping her face, he watched as he dragged his thumb over the circles under his eyes. "Behind that fear and intimidation . . . there's curiosity; you're curious about me—why I am the way I am . . . _what _I am . . . how _am _I. You look at me and the questions build up, and up and up . . ."-Damon's eyes flickered to hers and he smirked conceitedly-". . . My mystery_ aggravates _you. And you know what else aggravate you?" Damon's bent downwards until it reached her ear, his lips brushing her earlobe as he breathed against it. "That despite how much you try to deny it . . . even in only two days of knowing me, you still _want_ me." Damon pulled back, looking smugger than ever.

And then Bella let the inner rage go; her hand curled into a fist and then . . .

She punched him.

Right in the nose.

_Fuck_ that felt good.

Damon pulled his head back to her and his hand from his nose simultaneously, revealing the blood that was gushing from his nose. "You really _weren't_ joking about that mean right hook."

Bella merely shrugged.

"I'm serious."

"I know." Bella hardly said, stepping away from him—now his hands had released her—and crossed her arms over her chest. "You deserved it though; you were being a complete and utter dick." Damon smirked, hand raised to his nose, wiping away the blood that gushed from his nose. Something about his face was wrong; the way his eyes danced. It was almost like he was . . . _amused_. Bella felt like someone had thrown a cup of cold water at her. _Oh my God. _"You did that on purpose! You wanted me to hit you!"

Damon merely shrugged. "I wanted to see if you'd really fight back." His lips repelled, revealing his bloody teeth. "Good news—you passed the test with green flags."

Bella lurched forward, slapping at every inch of skin with her hand. "What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?! Who does shit like that?"

Damon grabbed her hands. "Easy there, Rocky."

"You're actually a psychopath! Bipolar! _Something_! Whatever you have—_are_—is definitely not normal!" Bella raged. She couldn't believe him—what he said, what he did; everything he did was for her reaction. Who did this guy think he was doing—saying—what he did? Damon merely smirked at Bella's verbal attack, rocking on his heels—face now clear of all traces of blood (though his nose was still a little red)—with arms crossed over chest and smirk intact. Bella was starting to regret not going for his mouth rather than his nose. That smirk that is forever gracing her presence, is beginning to more than get on her nerves.

"I'm going to find out what you are." Bella finally said, her face determined, hands on her hips sassily.

Damon continued to smirk, rock on his heels, arms crossed over chest. "Good luck with that."

"I _will _find out." Bella urged.

Damon cocked a brow. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

"Oh really?"

"_Yes._"

"Well . . . prepare yourself for failure—you're never going to figure it out." He smugly said. Bella glared and opened her mouth to speak when a sound blared from his cell. Damon grinned at her mockingly, holding up a finger in interruption and said in a condescending tone: "One moment please." Damon pulled out his cell, looked on screen and his brows shot up. "What a surprise—its none other than your Dad!" Bella's teethed gritted. "Lets see what he wants shall we?" Damon tapped the screen and pushed the cell to his ears. "Chief!" he answered.

There was a pause as her father replied.

Damon's eyes moved to hers. "No . . . No, Bella's perfectly fine. She's here with me right now. Sleeping like a pup—it's quite adorable really." Damon wiggled his dark, thick brows at her when she glared at him, hissing at him quietly ("_What are you doing, Salvatore?_"). His eyes turned away as he began to listen again to her father. "Ah-Huh . . . _oh_." Damon's face dropped. All serious was gone. "Yes . . . yes. No, it's fine—I'll come. I'll call one of her friends to look after her or something . . ."-Bella looked at him, eyebrows risen. Damon didn't look at her. He was frowning now-"Of course, I'll tell her. I will be there soon." Damon slowly pulled the cell from his ear.

There was a moments pause. Damon was still looking down at his cell.

"Well . . . what happened?"

Damon exhaled exasperatedly. "There's been another animal attack. Your boss . . . Cora? She's dead."


	37. XXXVII

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Everything went cold.

Cora? _Dead_?

"No . . . you're wrong . . ."

Damon shook his head, denying her accusation, reaching out to grab her hand. Bella tensed but somehow let him entwine his fingers with hers. "C'mon—we have to go. I need to take you home and go meet your Dad to . . ." no more words were said, but there needn't be, for Bella already knew what he would have said from the air between them.

He was going to examine the body.

Bella swallowed a fresh intake of air into her lungs, nodded numbly, and let Damon pull her gingerly out of her meadow. The return to Damon's car seemed to be a blur—she vaguely remembered Damon's touch and the sensation of his thumb rubbing over her hand every once and a while. At the time Bella wasn't quite sure if it had been a show of affection or that Damon was trying to revive some sort of reaction out of her. But she never contemplated it for too long for the death of Cora plagued her mind.

She just couldn't believe Cora was _dead_. They had to be wrong. At least—it couldn't have been Cora. Cora was like a . . . was like a second _mother_.

The whole concept of Bella losing another mother made her physically feel sick. But before she could dwell on whether she was going to be sick or not, the sound of a car door opening awakened her. They had reached the electric blue Mustang; Damon had opened her door and was now looking at her, her hand still clasped by his. Bella could have sworn there was an element of concern in his eyes, as he looked at her. Her image, she could only presume, was one of deep shock. And when she saw her face in the reflection of the car door window, she saw the ghostly pale reflection of her face staring back at her.

Damon silently placed her in the car, buckling her up like she was incapable infant. For a split second, Bella contemplated telling him that—that she _was_ capable—yet she couldn't find it in her; she couldn't find it in her to speak at all in this moment of shock. In what felt like seconds after Damon shut the door of the car, Damon was placing himself in the driver's seat, revving the engine and backing out of the long dirt road they had ridden along. As they turned out of it, Bella realized that she never got a chance to see the meadow one last time.

But something told her this wouldn't be the last time she went to this meadow. Something told her she'd be coming back again soon.

The drive back to Forks was silent. Deathly silent. The only sound heard was the rumbling of the car beneath them and the sound of their breathing—or at least her breathing . . . she could barely hear a sound from Damon. Though she knew he was still with her, for she could feel his eyes on her every few minutes or so. It was when they had arrived at her house, parked on the empty driveway that the silence was finally broken.

Damon lent across the car, grasping her hand with his own lukewarm one. "Bella . . .?"

Bella sucked in a breath. "We left your jacket in the meadow." Was all Bella could stutter.

Damon almost laughed there and then. "That doesn't matter." Damon shook his head. "What matters is you—are you . . . are you OK?"

"No." she shakily said. "I can't believe she's dead." Bella felt her eyes begin to sting. "I remember her from when I was a kid—the first time I went to The Lodge; it had been a week since Mom had died and Dad had burnt the dinner. I was crying because I was hungry—but mostly because I missed my Mom. Dad . . . he panicked; he got us in the cruiser and drove us to The Lodge, the only place open on a Sunday evening. Cora had been working there—it had been her first day working—and she welcomed us with such a _kind_ smile. And when she looked at me, and saw my tears, without hesitation she knelt down to the ground, pulled out a flowery handkerchief, wiped my eyes and said: '_big girls like you don't cry_'." Bella hiccupped. "I cried even more because . . . because that was what my Mom used to say to me whenever I cried." Damon's hand gripped hers tighter, comfortingly. "Cora—she wasn't perfect; I mean she was crass, and she cursed like a sailor. But she was like a second mother to me. And now . . . she's gone. Just like Chelsea. Just like Heidi . . . Just like M-Mom."

Damon reached over and unbuckled her seatbelt. And, as if foreseen, when she was free from the restraints of the seatbelt she launched across the car and into Damon's eyes. Her head nestled into his neck, her tears wetting it as she cried, and placed on his lap. It took a moment for Damon to retaliate, but when he did, his arms wound around her shaking body with gut-wrenching tears and, closing his eyes, he rested his cheek on her head. His hands began to move up and down her backing, rubbing it comfortingly.

Even Damon was shocked by his reaction to the crying girl in his hands.

After a long while of comforting, Damon knew he would have to leave. Charlie was expecting him. Damon shifted and using his finger, he tilted her chin so that her face was an inch from his. "C'mon, let's get you inside." Bella, her lips trembling, nodded shakily. And then Damon did the unthinkable; his leant forward and pressed his lips to hers.

The kiss was wet, short. Nothing more than a tender kiss. Yet somehow it managed to send spark through their bodies.

The both of them pulled away when they saw a car pull up at the house. Bella turned her head and squinted through the darkness, seeing the outline of the Ford car as the door opened.

It was Jess.


	38. XXXVIII

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

An hour later Bella found herself placed in the living room of her home, staring blankly at the screen of the TV. It was some channel Jess had placed on at some point when the tense silence in the room had become too much. Bella had been sitting in the same position—legs pulled to chest, trapped there with her arms—for what seemed like a while . . . and certainly not just only an hour. Damon had disappeared as soon as he saw fit that Jess had lead Bella into the house safely and went to join her Dad at the . . . crime scene.

Jess was now returning into the living room, two cups of steaming tea in her hands. She was watching Bella warily with her own red-rimmed eyes. "Here," Jess said lowly when she approached Bella. Bella blinked out of her trance, looking at Jess hold out the mug for her. "I made you some tea." Bella muttered out a coarse thank-you, as she accepted the tea, taking it gingerly from Jess' hand. She cradled the mug to her chest as she watched Jess place herself beside her from the corner of her eye. Jess exhaled exasperatedly, shaking her head from side-to-side, she too cradling her mug of steaming tea. "I just can't believe she's dead."

Bella nodded. "I know." she cracked.

Jess swallowed back some of the tea in the mug. "Cora . . . I dunno . . . she always seemed that type of woman you never expected to die—at least, not now anyway. She had so much go in her—it made it possible to even fathom that she would reach the end of her life at some point." Jess shook her head again. "You know what I mean?" Jess indicated towards Bella.

"I know what you mean." Bella agreed softly. "Cora was always a strong person. The kinda person that would kick death in the ass."

Jess chuckled. "Exactly." Jess took another sip from her tea. There was a moment's silence and then Jess groaned. "I can't imagine what Bill is going through right now." Bella's heart panged at the thought of Cora's husband discovering the news of her death. Bill didn't deserve to have his wife taken from him. Cora didn't deserved to have died—period. "Maybe we should ring him . . . send him a card . . . something; something to let him know that we're here, y'know, if he needs anyone."

Bella sucked in a breath. "That's a good idea."

Silence.

Jess broke the silence again: "When do you think your Dad will be back?" when Jess glanced at Bella, she saw him shrug. "Bella—are you OK? You've barely uttered one word since we've been here." Jess' voice was thick with concern. "Is it your head—is it still hurting? I can call the doctor if you want . . ."-

"No, it's fine." Bella quickly said. "My head's fine." Bella clarified. "I'm just shocked, is all. I . . . I can't believe Cora's dead."

"Right."

There was something off in Jess' voice that made Bella glance at her. She was staring down at her tea with a contemplating expression on her face, eyebrows furrowed. "What?" Jess looked up at her. Bella knew something was troubling her. "What's the matter, Jess?" Bella encouraged.

"Ok . . . fine." Jess sighed, defeated. "You . . . being silent; it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Damon Salvatore kissed you, right? Not even a tiny bit?"

Bella almost groaned. She looked away, wincing. "You saw that, huh?" she awkwardly said.

"Yep." Jess said, popping the 'p' with her mouth as she said it. "I saw it _all_." There seemed to be double meaning to what Jess was saying. Bella opened and closed her mouth, trying to find the words to say in this immensely awkward situation. "How long has this been going on—this shindig between the two of you?"

Bella's eyebrows shot up. "What? There's _nothing_ going on between me or Damon!" Bella spluttered. The tea sloshed against the walls of the mug.

Jess rolled her eyes skywards. "Come on, Bella, there's no point lying—I saw the way Damon was looking at you before he kissed you—hell and even the way he looked at you in the diner!" Jess flailed one of her hands around her for empathise. Jess repositioned her body so that she was facing Bella, her eyes glaring at her adamantly. "Spill. Tell me what's happening between you and him."

"Nothing!" Bella said and Jess raised her eyebrows at her disbelievingly. "Seriously, Jess—_nothing_ is going on between us."

Jess huffed. "Well I don't believe you."

Bella shook her head. "Don't you think we should be concentrating on other things right now—like Cora?" Bella winced when she heard her own voice. She didn't mean for it to come out that way, yet somehow it did and Bella felt a surge of guilt afterwards. "I'm sorry . . . it wasn't meant to come out that way." Bella shook her head. "I guess I'm taking Cora's death worse than I originally thought." Bella exhaled.

Placing her mug down on the coffee table, Jess shuffled along the couch until she was by Bella's side. She wrapped an arm around Bella's shoulders and then rested her head against hers in comfort. Bella leant into Jess' touch, thankful to have her here in this time of need. Jess always seemed to know what Bella needed the most—whether it was a shoulder to cry on, a pep talk, or simply just a hand to hold. Jess was just _there_ and Bella would always be there for her too. It was how they worked. They weren't just friends, they weren't just best friends—they were sisters.

Bella sniffed. "I'm going to miss her." _Nothing's going to be right without her at The Lodge anymore._

"I know . . . me too." Jess softly said in a soothing voice. She began to stroke her hand through her hair, comforting her.

The next thing Bella knew, her eyes were closing, the mug of tea in her hands was being taken from her and she was drifting off into exhaustion.

***.*.***

**Hey guys,**

**I think I'm having problems uploading today. I uploaded two more chapters before this, please send me a review or PM whether you're about to see/read the two chapters (and this one). Thanks X**


	39. XXXIX

**IMPORTANT: HAD A PROBLEM UPLOADING CHAPTERS YESTERDAY. CONTACTED FF & THEY FIXED IT. YOU CAN NOW VIEW CHAPTERS 36, 37 & 38. If confused with what's happened in the past few chapters of the story, suggest you go back and re-read them (you may have missed one of the chapters you couldn't view at the time).**

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Charlie was waiting for Damon as he pulled up into The Lodge. He was standing at the entrance of the barred off parking lot, a solemn expression on his face. When he noticed the electric blue Mustang and Damon behind the wheel, he merely tilted his head in reply, before saying something to Deputy Mark who was standing not a metre from him; Mark moved over to where Officer Stanley was tending to building crowds of people with the red-head Damon remembered as Officer White.

Damon parked alongside the rest of the cruisers, next to Charlie's own cruiser, where the blue, red and white lights where still flashing. A few of the officers standing beside the cruiser next to him nodded to him in acknowledgement when Damon stepped out the car. Charlie was now approaching him just as a news-crew truck meandered down the road Damon had recently drove down, before turning into The Lodge.

"Thanks for coming, Damon." Charlie said, greeting the raven-haired vampire. "It's slowly turning into a madhouse here; news reporters have been turning up left, right and centre." Charlie grumbled as he watched the white truck, baring a news logo on the side of the truck, slow and hover on the scene. "Forensics have yet to arrive; they should be here within the hour. But until then . . . we've quarantined off the area. The sooner forensics gets here to deal with the body the less attention we'll raise. Though not that matters—I'm pretty sure then entirety of Forks has heard the news . . . and then some." Charlie added gruffly, glancing at the news reporters trucks again. Charlie breathed heavily and turned to Damon: "How's Bella?"

Thinking back the way he had left Bella, Damon shook his head. "Not good, Chief."

A perturbed look marred Charlie's face. "That's predictable enough; Bella saw Cora like a second mother." Charlie reached behind him to rub the back of his neck. "But you've found someone to look after her?" Damon nodded. "Jessica?" Damon nodded his head again. "Good, Jessica will look after her . . ." Then with a momentary thought he added: "They'll look after each other." Charlie breathed. "Cora was a very much liked person in Forks; a lot of people will be grieved with this news." Damon couldn't help but wonder whether Charlie was including in those specified people. Charlie exhaled and clapped a hand on Damon's back. "Come on, Damon; it's about time you saw the body."

Charlie lead Damon across the parking lot, weaving around the flashing lights of the cruisers parked—blocking the body from view—and passing the officers that helped quarantine the area until eventually they reached a group of officers grouped and something—or more specifically, _someone_. A few of the officers nodded and moved out of Charlie's way in their approaching. Once they broke through the crowds of officers, they finally reached their destination.

The site was certainly gruesome, Damon could give it that, but he had seen worse—what with having a ripper for a brother. Pools of blood covered the concrete floor of the parking lot and splattered the exterior of the car. One of the windows looked as if it had been smashed with something and some of the jagged glass that had been torn from the car and onto the floor was dripping with blood.

Damon's eyes moved from the car and finally acknowledged the body. The first thing he noticed was the fact her eyes were open. Her wide, lifelessly glassy eyes bared the last emotion she felt before her death: fear. Her pale lips with a blue-ish hue were open, as if in mid-scream. Her neck and hand/wrist was completely ruined—archeries, flesh and bones were all on show. Blood stained her waitress uniform and her limbs were in odd, unnatural angles. The sight was ghastly and caused by a vampire without a doubt.

"Leave us." Damon vaguely heard Charlie order the men crowding the body. All of them obeyed their Chief's order and within moments it was just he and Charlie, observing the gruesome sight before them.

Damon lets out a long, dragged whistle. "This is _not_ pretty."

"No." Charlie agreed firmly, his hands on his hips as he observed the sight before them with a hard, disturbed facial expression. "She was attacked whilst she was leaving work." Charlie broke his eyes from the scene to nod towards the closed down restaurant. "It had been two teenagers that found her. Lauren Mallory and Tyler Crowley."

Damon discreetly smirked. "They'll be having nightmares for the next few years."

"They've both been taken to Forks Memorial due to shock. I should think they are being kept there for the night." Charlie ran a hand through his hair and exhaled heavily. "If it Bella hadn't have had that accident in gym . . . _she _could have been the one to find _this_." Charlie stressed with a hand to the scene before them. "This will be the first and only time I've said this but _thank _God for her clumsiness." Charlie chuckled coarsely and then flinched. "If Bella had found her . . . it would have torn her apart."

There was a moment silence between them.

"So . . . what do you think, Damon?" Charlie prompted exasperatedly.

"Well,"-Damon exhaled, slipping his hands into his jean pockets-"It's a vampire attack for sure. To me it looks like an unexpected attack."-Damon gestured to the blood splattered on the car-"The vampire perhaps snuck up on her." Damon moved around the pools of blood and inspected the broken window and body. "She struggled. The bloodied hand and shattered window she probably tried to call for help by sounding the car horn." Damon glanced at Charlie. "How did the teenagers find the body again?"

"They had finished eating at the diner and they went to leave in the boy's car that was parked _here_."-Charlie gestured towards the empty space beside the body-"The girl had been the one to find her first."

Damon took in the information. "And none of them reported to hear any car horn?"

"No; the body had been there for at least thirty minutes before it had been found—that's only by judgement . . . it couldn't be verified until forensics gets here."

Damon looked down at the mauled hand of the body. "By the looks of things she was probably stopped before she could even call for help." Damon narrows his eyes on the entirety of the scene. He steps backwards and looked at it all with risen brows. "It's messy." Damon observed with an almost surprised tone. "Very messy."

Charlie looked at Damon suspiciously. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that this vampire is being careless. V_ery_ careless." Damon clucked his tongue. "Most vampires at least have the dignity to hide the fact it was a vampire attack. But this . . ." Damon whistled. "It either looks like we're dealing with a very out of control newborn or . . . quite probably . . . a vampire that wants to be hunted. Call me a paranoid, but _some_thing tells me it's the latter." Damon sang.


	40. XL

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

At some point throughout the duration of time Damon had spent at the crime-scene, the forensics had arrived and set to work on the body. It was around then that Charlie suggested it would be best if he left and went back to Bella, to make sure she was OK, while he finished off alternative business. And, without protest, Damon complied, for in the time he had been there the thought of him kissing Bella kept running through the back of his mind; Damon slipped into his Mustang and drove back in the direction of the Swan residence where he was happy to see that the car of Bella's friend—Jessica?—was still parked outside the house.

Damon shuts off the engine, steps out the car, and heads inside. His first thought was to find Bella and he found her—and her friend—situated in the living room where the only light in the house was on. Damon was surprised to see Bella resting on the couch, fast asleep, with her friend embracing her. Both of their noses were red and tears clung to the lashes of their eyes. Apparently Bella hadn't been the only one who had been close to Cora, he acknowledged, and subsequently thought back to what Charlie had said about Cora at The Lodge. He couldn't help but agree which Charlie latter statement; _Thank God for Bella's clumsiness._

Damon wasn't quite sure where this sudden sense of protectiveness for the mahogany-haired girl came from, but it was there, and it didn't seem to be going anytime soon.

As soon as Damon entered the living room, Jess looked up from her spot where she had been embracing Bella, telling him that she had been awake from the beginning. She looked at Damon and blushed as she saw his raised-brow-look radiating towards the embrace Bella and she were tangled up in. "She fell asleep almost an hour ago. I think the shock exhausted her." Jess awkwardly said, pulling herself from Bella's arms, standing up to face Damon.

"Can I get you anything—a mug of tea . . . coffee . . . water?" Damon didn't answer, but rather simply stared at Bella with a strange look in his eye. In cause of Jess untangling herself from the embrace, Bella had now repositioned herself so that she was now curled into a ball. Jess could only presume that Damon hadn't heard the question that Jess had asked. "I guess not then." Jess drawled. Jess rolled her eyes when Damon still didn't seem to acknowledge her presence. "You should probably take her up to bed. From the amount of times I've had to sleep on that thing, I'd know that waking up on that thing is pure hell."

Damon's eyes moved to Jess and he smirked slightly. "I will."

Jess, not liking the reaction his smirk gave her, shifted uncomfortably on the spot. "Y'know what, maybe I should do it. . ."

"I think I'm capable of putting someone in a bed, _thanks_." Damon drawled his smirk still evident. "You should head home; your mother will be worrying about you."

"Fine." Jess snapped. "I'll go." Jess reached down to pick her bag up from the end of the couch. "Just make sure you keep an eye on her; Bella's pretty prone to nightmares." Jess said as she slung the bag over her shoulder. "When she wakes up, tell her to call me?" Damon refrained the roll of an eye and simply nodded, waving her off with a dismissal hand. Jess gritted her teeth. "_What does Bella even see in you?_" Jess grumbled under her breath.

Damon's eyebrows rose. "Excuse me?" he smirked. Again.

Jess narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the fact he heard her say something. "Nothing." Jess casually said. "I'll be off then." Jess casted one look in Bella's direction before heading out of the house, slipping past Damon without so much of a glance. Damon watched her walk out of the room with a smirk and eyes dancing with amusement. He didn't move his eyes back to Bella until the sound of the door closing sounded throughout the house.

For a moment, like he was as he entered the living room, he was captivated by Bella. She looked so . . . peaceful, despite the odds. Her head was slightly tilted to the side, her long thick mahogany curls like a shiny waterfall against the arm of the chair and her rose-petal pink, cracked lips were puckered into an 'o' shape. Her skin was still slightly blotching in places, tear-stained, and her nose was tinted red. As he walked over to her, he wondered momentarily what was wrong with him—what was happening to him? What was happening between the two of them?

Shaking his head in dismissal, he reached down and effortlessly pried Bella from the couch. She wasn't light but she wasn't heavy either. She was just right. She wasn't like Katherine, Elena . . . or even Caroline. She looked like any other beautiful teenager. Yet why did it seem like she was more than that? Why did she sing to him? Her mind, body, _blood_—all of it sang to him, and he couldn't fathom why. She wasn't anything special . . . she was just any other teenager . . . right?

Bella breathed a strange sigh of relief as soon as she was settled into his arms. He felt that strange tightening in chest again when she curled herself around him, resting her head upon his chest and her fingers subconsciously wrapped itself around the fabric of his t-shirt, over his heart. Swallowing, Damon looked down at her completely oblivious expression and using the hand wrapped around her back, he reached across a finger and pushed aside the piece of hair that hung over her face.

Taking Bella to her bedroom was fairly easy, for apparently she was completely out of it; she barely made one noise of protest as he moved up the stairs into her bedroom. He moved across the room to the bed situated in the middle of the moderately sized bedroom. He placed her down on the bed, causing her to make a slight sleepy sound. He tucked her legs under the purple quilts before pulling the rest of it up to her chest. This caused her to let out another sigh and roll over onto her side.

Involuntarily, Damon felt his hands move at his own accord, his fingers running down the skin of her cheek. But then, realizing he had done the similar thing to Elena almost a year ago, Damon retracted his hand back and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. Bella shifted slightly under the touch, but made no move to awaken. Damon pulled back and couldn't decide if he was happy or irritated that his action didn't awaken Bella.

Shaking his head, his face hovering over Bella's, he brushed his lips over her forehead once more whispering a soft: "Goodnight Bella." Before disappearing from the room.


	41. XLI

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Charlie watched as the forensics began to set up the plastic tent around the body, shielding it from sight from the ever growing crowds at the peak of The Lodge parking lot. Darkness was beginning to fall like a blanket over the small town, except the buzz of people did not disappear with its arrival; if anything as the darkness struck and the flashing blue-red-and-white lights of the cruisers illuminated, it attracted more attention as the word spread across town. Charlie sighed inwardly; the phrase "_word travels fast in small towns_" couldn't have suited the situation more perfectly as he adjusted his angle, looking over his shoulder to see Stanley and a few other officers holding up the fort they had created to block off the apprehensive and curious crowd.

Charlie looked back at the plastic tent that had been domed around the body and immediately regretted sending Damon away. Everything Damon had said . . . it was repeating, stuck on a loop in his head, his words repeating over and over again like a broken record. Charlie didn't doubt the majority of Damon's conclusions upon being presented with the scene of crime; there was no doubt this was another animal attack. That was a given. But the latter conclusion? Did the vampire _really _want to be hunted? It sounded almost preposterous. But then again this whole concept was preposterous—never in his lifetime would Charlie have ever assumed vampires were real without the help in hand of the Quileute tribe. It was just . . . the way Damon _said _it made it sound like . . . well, like this was all a whole game for this vampire terrorizing Forks.

It just didn't seem believable enough.

"Excuse me, Chief Swan," a man dressed in full-body scrubs stepped out of the tent. His eyes were grave and professional. Charlie recognized him as the leader of the forensics team. "I'm afraid it's going to be a bit longer until we're finished here." The man told him. "Maybe you should find yourself a seat or a drink."

Charlie cleared his throat, shaking his head. "That's fine. I have a few calls to make. Give me a shout when you need me."

The man nodded. "Of course, Chief Swan. I apologize for the delay."

Charlie nodded to the man before he disappeared back into the tent and Charlie slowly turned. Charlie exhaled heavily, pulling out his cell from his pocket, and began to migrate over to the neglected regions of the parking lot—merging into the shadows—and began to dial a familiar number to him. Peaking over her shoulder casually, he checked for any onlookers—he was unwatched—before turning his back to the crime-scene, cell pressed to ear. He listened intently to the sound of the dial tone.

The call was picked up after three rings.

"Hello?" the feminine voice said through the speaker of the phone, into Charlie's ear.

Charlie inhaled when the voice filled his ear. "Liz—hi, it's me, Charlie."

"Oh, Charlie—hey; I've been waiting for you to call." Familiarity filled the voice of Liz Forbes upon reply to Charlie's greeting. "So—how's Damon doing? Not causing any trouble, I hope."

Charlie chuckled and brushed a hand through his curly locks. "No—not causing any trouble—but now I do doubt your choice of help."

"Damon's harmless." Liz replied, though there was something that made Charlie feel like it was something she was saying out of false reassurance, rather than genuine reassurance. Charlie shook his head, shaking off Liz's hasty tone with dismissal—this wasn't why he had called—just in time for when Liz's voice returned to his ear: "How _is_ everything Forks?"

"Not good." Charlie huffed, resting a hand on his hips, whilst simultaneously glancing over his shoulder to glance at the scene behind him. "There . . . There was another attack a short while ago." Charlie heard Liz gravely say '_uh-oh_' on the other end before, with a moment hesitation, he continued. "This brings the death toll up to eleven and the increase of attacks is beginning to rise . . . unwanted attention. And not just from the media—people are starting to doubt my authority here."

"That does _not _sound good." Liz murmured.

Charlie nodded, despite knowing she couldn't see him do it. "My sentiments exactly." Charlie breathed in a stressed, cracked tone of voice. "I just wanted to know, well . . . know how you handled it, I guess."

Liz sighed hearing the stress in Charlie's voice. "With calmness and control." Liz answered simply at first. "Having calmness and control in situations like this is important; now more than ever, people are looking up to you to make sure you can direct and lead them out of this dangerous situation. Make sure the people know you're in charge—it's the only way you're going to get what you want. The last thing you want is for people to take you as a joke." Charlie squeezed his eyes closed, cringing at that. Liz seemed to catch Charlie's tense silence from the other side of the call. "You'll be _fine_, Charlie. You're a good leader, Charlie—forget what people say and remember what you _know_; in college, everyone wanted to be on your team because you _always _knew how to lead your team while sussing out the best strategies."

Charlie scoffed, trying to push away the feeling of heat swelling in his cheek and rolled his eyes skyward. "You're forgetting, Liz, this isn't a college game of Capture the Flag; this is real life."

"You'll be fine, Charlie. You just need to have a little more faith in yourself as a leader. Remember: _be calm, be in control._"

Charlie exhaled deeply. "Thank you Liz. You don't know how much I needed to hear that."

"Anytime Charlie. You were always there for me, remember?"

"Right." Charlie said before he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. He had been found. Charlie saw a glimpse of red hair from the corner of his eye. _Officer White. _"Look, Liz, I have to go—but thanks . . . again." after a few moments of exchanging words, Charlie shut off the phone and turned (trying to push back the flare of irritancy he felt when he looked at Officer White for interrupting his call) and placed on his mask of professionalism. "Can I help you, Officer White?"

Officer White pushed her hands behind her back, clasping them there. "I was sent to go to you, Chief; you have a visitor."

Charlie felt another flare of irritation. "Not another news reporter hoping to catch an interview, I hope?"

White shook her head vigorously. "No sir—Deputy Mark is continuing to send them away. It's someone else, sir; Deputy Mark said it was best that she was sent straight to you."

_She?_ _Please let it not be Bella. _"Right—and where is this visitor?"

"Over there, sir." Officer White turned and pointed in a certain direction. "I thought it would best to come and tell you before leading her to you." White's lips quirked, almost as if trying to bribe compliments from the Chief of police. She was disappointed when her boss didn't seem to pay any attention to what she had said; instead he was looking straight forward—at the feminine figure standing across the parking lot, beside the flashing lights of the cruisers, with her arms crossed over chest. She was staring straight in the direction of Charlie. "She said it was important sir. She said her name was . . ."-Officer White was interrupted:

"_Esme._"


	42. XLII

**Summary:** Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Damon snarled in frustration when he looked down at the empty plastic bag in his hands, seeing that the blood that had once been in the bag had completely drained from it—to the very last drop. Damon pulled the bag from his mouth and tossed into the duffel-bag, letting it land inside where the other empty blood bags had been stored—or more like stashed away. Damon swallowed; feeling his face contort and change beneath him, noted to himself casually that he would need to make a trip to the blood bank at Forks Memorial.

In the past hour of leaving Bella in her bedroom, vacating back downstairs to the living room, a sudden feeling of restlessness had overcame him. He didn't know why or how at first, but he quickly assumed it was from the lack of blood in his body, and spent the past hour devouring the blood bags he had stashed away in his duffel-bag (of which he had brought in from the trunk of his Mustang) from Mystic Falls. Only, once every last drop of blood bags had been consumed, the restlessness feeling radiating from his body was still present. It hadn't disappeared with the blood-lust as he had hoped.

And now Damon was left guessing the reason for his restlessness had something to do with the sleeping human above his head. In inward mention of her, Damon's ears craned. He listened intently and within seconds the thumping, rhythmic sound of her slumbering heartbeat filled his ears. The words of her curly-haired friend drifted through his head and he noted that the rate of her heartbeat gave no notion that she was having a nightmare of any sorts. _It was the shock_, a voice inside his head told him; the shock of what she had discovered had obviously rendered her into a deep, dreamless (or in this case nightmare-less) sleep . . . _thankfully._

Damon almost chocked on the air around him when the subconscious afterthought was added. _Thankfully?_ Damon questioned. Just a week ago Damon was hopelessly in love with Elena and when he moved to a complete different state, different small town, he's suddenly confessing humane feelings towards another human? Damon shook his head in frustration. What did this say for his so claimed love for Elena, if he was already kissing another girl and having _humane _feelings for her?

_Speaking of the kiss_ . . . Damon thought with an element of sarcasm in his tone. The kiss can surely be deduced to the heat of the moment; the girl was crying—sitting on his lap (_curled _around his body, mind you). The sound of her heartbeat, the warmth of her body, her pumping blood and her captivating aroma was surely enough to make all of his senses disperse in the air and any rational thought be blocked from her heard. Thus, the kiss happened. Damon nodded, adamant to believe that was the reason why he kissed her.

It had—by no means—anything to do with the fact that Damon might genuinely have some _humane _feelings for her.

Damon was not humane. He never has been. Not since he was human. He just didn't _care_. And he never has. He loved Elena and what did he do? He snapped her brother's neck, that's what. He was _vampire_; meaning, he had no capability to feel any element of care towards any source of being lower than him. Especially towards something that he should consider _food._

The sound of her heartbeat and the blaring of his conflicted thoughts had been pounding through his head so loudly he didn't hear Charlie's arrival until he heard the sound of the door opening. Damon looked down at the duffel-bag and, with a shot of panic, Damon tossed it behind the couch—of which he positioned himself on—just as Charlie stepped through the living room, looking so stressed and exhausted that it almost looked like he had aged two more years in the past hour alone.

"Damon—you're still up." Charlie acknowledged, half-expecting to see Damon asleep on the couch.

The couch had been Damon's makeshift bedroom for the time-being—though, what Charlie or his pretty little daughter didn't know—was that his first night Damon had spent it out in the forest grounds around the house, venturing to the meadow he had in just hours ago where he laid upon the soft bedding of glass, watching the moon glow in the high-sky (lost in thought) until eventually dawn threatened to brink and he returned to the house, just in time to hear Charlie awakening from his own bedroom.

"Right now I am." Damon stepped up from the couch, passing Charlie what looked to the human a wary smile. That was all an act of course. "I couldn't find it in me to go to sleep." Damon shrugged, tucking his hands into his jean pockets. "What's the state currently?" he was talking about the body, of course.

"It has been taken to the morgue and I don't imagine being prepared to be shown to her hus- . . . Bill." Charlie sighed exasperatedly. "The forensics seem to agree with you—the attacker had snuck up on Cora and she had tried to call for help." Charlie scratched his jaw.

Damon nodded wordlessly.

"You seem to know what you're doing." Charlie stated. "And because I don't have the faintest idea of what I'm doing here—I don't know the first thing in hunting down and destroying a vampire—so that is why I'm putting my trust in you, Damon. You may be a stranger but you're all Forks has got." Charlie stared at Damon firmly. There was a pregnant pause of silence as they stared each other down. "Don't abuse this trust, Damon."

"I won't." Damon replied solemnly. Charlie sighed and moved to stand over beside the fireplace, hands tucked in his own pockets, back and side of face directed towards Damon. Damon couldn't help but notice the way Charlie's eyes flickered towards a photograph on the mantelpiece. Damon glanced at the photograph and he felt interest spike within him; the next thing he knew he was standing next to Charlie, picking up the photograph from the mantelpiece, looking at the faces that smiled back at him.

It was a family photograph. Damon had never noticed it until now, but now that he did, Damon couldn't stop looking at it.

The most familiar and obvious faces was a younger (and happier) looking Charlie in the middle of the photograph. He was seated down and smiling, with a beautiful little toddler with mahogany brown ringlets for hair and radiant, large brown eyes. That was, with no mistake, Bella. He could tell from the eyes, colour of hair and tiny smile on the toddler's face. Even now, many years on, as a teenager Bella still had the same captivating smile. Toddler Bella even had the trademark blush on her cheeks.

A face that was relatively familiar to Damon sat next to Charlie (and Bella) and after a second thought Damon recognized it as Bella's mother. He also recognized her from when he first met Bella; he had seen her from a distance, from within the shadows, when she had lead a five (and a half) years old Bella from the meadow. She looked just like Bella—flawless—except there were differences here and there. She had the same mahogany hair in soft curls to her shoulders; her face was heart-shaped and her cheekbones were prominent; and when looking into Bella's mothers eyes Damon realized Bella didn't have her father's eyes, as he first perceived, but rather her mothers. Bella's mothers eyes were brown too—a chocolate-y and warm chestnut brown colour. Charlie's were darker—slightly duller—with flecks of green in them.

Charlie, Bella and Bella's mother were not the only ones in the picture—there were three more (females) that stood around Charlie, Bella's mother and the toddler Bella on Charlie's lap holding her mother's hand. Two of them—the younger ones—Damon quickly sussed out to be Bella's sisters . . . Chelsea and Heidi. They looked a lot like Bella and Bella's mother too, except unlike Bella, they had a good fair of Charlie's features mixed in with Bella's mothers. What Damon noticed most was that Bella, Chelsea and Heidi all seemed to have the beautiful brown eyes that Bella's mothers possessed. They also had heart-shaped faces as well, but that seemed less important, there was something _strange_ about the way that they all possessed the same shade of eyes. It wasn't just like siblings sharing the same eye-colour—there wasn't _any _difference . . . Heidi nor were Chelsea's eyes slightly darker, duller, lighter . . . they were identical.

And, sure enough (as if to make it more suspicious) the unnamed woman standing behind Bella's mother had the same brown eyes.

"Caught your eye, huh?" Charlie grunted from beside Damon, bringing him out of his daze. "That was taken in 1996. When the Swan family was at its happiest." Charlie sullenly said. "There was a time when I had a wife and two more daughters." Charlie sadly brushed his fingers over the faces that Damon had pin-pointed as Bella's mother, Chelsea and Heidi. "Renée—my wife and the love of my life." Charlie muttered, lingering over Bella's mother's face, before moving onto the slightly smaller teen-girl of the two. "Chelsea." Charlie then moved to the taller one. "Heidi." Charlie exhaled deeply. "Chelsea was the first to go—she disappeared three months after this was taken. Kidnapped, presumably; we never got the chance to find out what happened to her—her case was rendered cold after two years of on-going searching and dead-ends. I was just a cop at that time, with no authority over the case—I had been so _mad_ at the way the previous Chief handled it. I was determined to think the reason she had never been found was because the Chief had never done his job properly. But . . . later on, when I became Deputy, and was granted to review her file I saw that nothing could tie up. She literally _disappeared_. No trace. No sound."

"That must have been hard on your wife."

Charlie hummed, nodding meekly. "Yes. It was very hard on Renée, but it was Heidi that took it worse. Chelsea and Heidi were close in age—a mere 9 and a half months a part. Heidi looked up to Chelsea, and had done all her life—Chelsea was the sister that could do no wrong. Heidi was cut up with Chelsea disappeared and when the months that eventually turned into years passed, Heidi's grief caused her to make the wrong decisions; she got on the wrong side of the tracks—Renée had found syringes under her mattress at one point."-Charlie swallowed thickly, shaking his head back-and-forth-"She died two years after Chelsea, on her birthday. Drug overdose." Charlie spat out. Damon felt seemingly uncomfortable as he saw the light reflect on the tears that welled in his eyes. "Bella doesn't know that, though. She thinks it was an accident that occurred during cliff diving."

Damon's eyebrows furrowed at the strange surge of anger he felt at the prospect of Bella being lied to. "Why?"

"It was Renée's idea." Charlie told him. "She thought Bella wouldn't be able to handle the truth—the truth that her sister . . . _killed_ herself." Charlie swallowed again and quickly brushed away the tear that escaped. "And as for Renée . . . well, you already know what happened there." There was a long moment of silence. Damon let the photograph slip out of his hands when Charlie took it from him, holding it up to the light and smiled—almost as if lost in thought (or memory of that day when the photograph was taken—before placing it upon the mantelpiece again. "There isn't a moment that passes by that I don't miss any of them. Chelsea . . . Heidi . . . Renée—they were _amazing_ people and I will always regret the fact that Bella never got to know them like I did."

Another long, tense pause.

Damon cleared his throat, his eyes drawn back on the photograph. "And who's that . . . the woman next to Bella's mother?" Damon pointed to the nameless woman.

Charlie looked at Damon and then back at the photograph. The woman was average height—or so it seemed in the photograph—with long caramel hair in soft curls and a beautiful smile that glowed with happiness. "That's Esme . . . Renée's sister . . . Bella's _aunt_."


	43. XLIII

**Summary:**Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:**I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

When Bella reawakened there was four things she noticed: 1) it was dark, the lights had gone out; 2) She was no longer in the living room—it took her several moments for her tired eyes to adjust to her new surroundings; 3) From the illuminated digital clock beside her she could tell it was 4 AM; and 4) she was extremely warm. Inhaling the cool air in the atmosphere around her, she looked down—her vision obscured—and just about made out the quilts that were tightly tangled around her fully clothed body. No wonder she was so warm; she had gone to sleep in her regular clothes. She didn't doubt that it was Jess that had moved her up to her bedroom, and put her on her bed, and she felt a glimmer of sadness to see Jess had gone without saying goodbye.

Sighing, Bella untangled the bed-quilts from around her and struggled with major effort to take off the jeans that clung to her skin; once she was free from her denim constraints she sighed in relief, relinquishing on the cool air that brushed, waved and soothed her swelteringly hot skin. She then moved onto removing her socks, and her upper clothing until she was just in the camisole. With a newfound relief washed over her, Bella sat back against the headboard of her small double bed.

Outside, she could vaguely hear the pitter-patter of rain falling around her but when she looked out, she saw nothing but black. She stared out of the window for a lengthy amount of time and then when she felt the thoughts of Cora's death creeping back into her bed; she quickly snapped her head away and distracted herself by pulling out her cell that she just so happened to notice on her bedside table. It told her that Damon had been in her room—for the last she remembered, Damon had still been in possession of her phone. The concept made shivers ripple down her spine.

Bella flipped open the cell and unlocked the screen. The brightness of the screen momentarily blinded her, concluding her to itch the cell away from her and wince her eyes as she began to open up the numerous messages that had been left on her cell. They were mostly from Jess and Angela—presumably asking if she was OK after her gym accident (something that had completely crossed her mind from the eventful drama of the past few hours; remembering this caused her to reach up and cup her head. Surprisingly she felt fine; there wasn't even a bruise, let alone a bump. It was strange, but Bella quickly passed it off). As she flicked through Jess' messages, it was the last one that caught her eye:

**Had to go home, that toy boy of yours practically pushed me out the house. I hope you didn't mind that he put you to bed. Reply as soon as you get this message. I'm worried about you—Jess XX**

Reading the text Bella could hear the irritation towards Damon and the concern towards her rippling from the message. Except, as she reread the message, she couldn't help her heard from stuttering when she realized it was _Damon_ that moved her up here. She hated how the idea of Damon carrying her up to her bedroom and placing her in her bed made her heard do strange things; the idea alone made the memory of Damon's cool, smooth lips pressed against hers come back to her.

Damon . . . had _kissed_ her.

Bella's fingers reached up, brushing her own lips in wonder.

After a lengthy amount of time, lost in a daze, her throat began to become agonizingly dry. Bella quickly tapped her reply to Jess—hoping she didn't wake her up whilst doing so—and pushed herself out of the bed. Fishing out a pair of draw-string shorts, she slipped them on over her legs; although it was more than likely that Damon would be asleep at this time, she couldn't be too sure; the last thing she wanted was to have Damon catching her out in her panties. The thought alone brought waves of embarrassment to her cheeks.

Bella held her phone, using the screen as guidance, and crept out of her bedroom and past Charlie's bedroom. The door was ajar and through it she could see the rise and fall of her father's chest from where he slept soundly (snoring, as per usual) on the bed. Bella paused for a moment, worrying on how Charlie was taking the news of Cora's death; she wasn't the only one that would be affected by this death. Charlie saw Cora as a good friend—at some point in her adolescence she recollected that there was a point in her life that she wondered if it was _more_ than friendship . . . or at least a crush. Of course, that all disappeared when Cora married Bill. Bella, hoped, most of all that Cora's death didn't remind her Dad of Renée, Chelsea or Heidi's deaths.

Bella stepped down the stairs as quietly as possible, gripping the banister with all her might until her feet touched the coolness of the laminate flooring. She passed down the foyer, down the hallway, until she reached the kitchen—her feet moving from the laminate flooring to the ice touch of the linoleum flooring. She crossed the kitchen and immediately headed for the sink, gripping her cell in hand as she opened the cabinet, pulled out a glass, flicked on the tap and filled it up with cool water.

Bella took a cautious sip from the water, making sure she didn't fill it up too high (knowing her coordination, or lack-thereof she would be spilling it before she got a chance to drink it) and turned to return back to the confinements of her bedroom, and attempt to sleep for another hour or so, only to chock when she saw Damon stood at the threshold of the kitchen. And almost stopped breathing all together when she realized he was shirtless.

He had obviously been sleeping—or on the verge of that—when she looked at his attire . . . and the little of it. He merely wore some drawstring, black pyjama trousers and his feet were bare . . . like his chest. Bella wasn't one that was unfamiliar with the term 'six-pack'; she'd seen plenty of six-packs—or even eight-packs—in the films she had watched with Jess, hell she had even seen Tyler Crowley's six-pack at some point at a football game. Not once had she seen the interest of a six-pack but now . . . looking at Damon's "six-pack".

"_Holy Crap._" Were better words for her state of mind right now, which unfortunately she had said aloud—_loudly. _She was pretty sure she had dribble—or the water she chocked on—on the side of her mouth.

Damon smirked. The combination of the awry smirk, the tousled black hair, and shirtless chest did strange, warm things to her stomach that she could only describe in one word: _lust. _Bella gulped. "H-H-i-i." Bella stuttered, forcing herself not to drop the glass.

His smirk widened at her flustered state as his eyes travelled from her blushing face, over her camisole and her drawstring shorts. It was then that she suddenly became aware of the fact that she was showing _a lot _of skin. It wasn't like she was tanned—she was pale like a milk bottle, as the rest of the girl population was—but with Damon looking the way he looked, there was no doubt that the woman's body Damon had seen was nothing short of perfect. "Hey." Damon finally said, his voice dancing with the amusement and mischief as it always did.

"Erm . . ." Bella struggled for something to say. What _could_ she say without sounding like rambling, stuttering idiot? But then the silence became somewhat agonizing. _Say something Bella! _"_Bed_!" was the first thing that came out of her mouth and it came out as a somewhat scream. _Oh God—look what you've just done. Idiot, idiot, idiot—he's definitely going to think you're an idiot now! If he didn't already._

Damon's eyebrows rose. "Bed?" he repeated.

Bella inwardly groaned. "You're . . . you're out of bed."

"Evidently." His lips quirked.

_Shit! Shit! Shit! What the hell am I saying? Of course he's out of bed!_

"And . . ."-Damon looked at her expectantly when she trailed off-". . . you took me to _m-my_ bed." _Face. Palm._

The amusement in Damon's eyes was practically screaming with laughter. "I did."

"Jess sent me a text telling me . . ." _Oh God, just give up before the verbal diarrhoea starts. _Bella huffed exasperatedly. "Y'know never mind. _Thanks _for putting me in my bed,"-_Thanks for putting me in my bed?!_-". . . I only came down here for a drink so . . . so I'll be off back to bed." Bella gripped her glass of water tightly, gesturing to it, shuffling from side-to-side and watching her feet do so, blatantly avoiding Damon's gaze. There was silence (Damon said nothing). "Right, well . . . night." Bella walked across the kitchen and went to narrowly move around him.

He caught her wrist and something told her that she wouldn't be escaping him anytime soon.

***.*.***

**Hey guys, thanks for the amazing response as per usual!**

**Just wanted to make note that someone asked a question in the reviews what my updating schedule was. Truth be told, I don't have one! Writing revolves around whether I have time to do it, and since I'm doing my last year at college/high school, you can imagine that I'm pretty swamped with school work right now. So bare with me. Though I felt I have been doing pretty OK in the past few weeks regarding this story (its just too addicting NOT to write). **

**And as to the fact that I have introduced another Cullen into the story... yes, I know, I said I wouldn't do it. But this story is completely AU and you'll find they aren't like they are in Twilight (as you can tell by the fact Chelsea & Heidi were Bella's sisters and Esme is Bella's aunt). But I can safely say at this point I have NO intention WHATSOEVER to include Edward or Edweirdo as some of you are calling him (LOL'ed so hard at that - Genius!) in this story. And even if I did (which is a 00000.1% chance), Bella wouldn't get with him. Della is endgame for this story. Period. Full Stop. End of. Fin.**


	44. XLIV

**Summary:**Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer:**I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Bella," Damon whispered strangely soft. The hand that grasped her wrist had a firm hold on her, yet it wasn't demanding—just . . . strong. "Are you OK?" the tenderness in his voice was shocking enough to make her eyes drift up and look at Damon before her. Even only knowing him for two days (or thirteen years whether you really count that meeting in 1998 getting to know him), it was bizarre to hear Damon speak to her in such way. She had gotten used to the crass, brazen Damon.

Bella's eyes met Damon's—blue against brown. His were bright and once again Bella was taken aback by the concern meddled within it. "Damon, I-I'm fine." She tried to sound as convincing as possible.

Damon looked at her, his stare becoming more intense by the second—it was almost unnerving. It made her feel like she was being examined under a magnifying glass. "I've been around a long time, Bella—I know when people are lying . . ." Damon simply said, almost accusingly. It had become clear to Bella, as Damon spoke again: ("It's OK to admit you're not OK . . .") that Damon was trying to make her let out whatever she was feeling about Cora's death, and the dark memories it brought back with it, but truth be told Bella didn't want to _do _that. She didn't want to be the type of girl that sat around and cried for days. She didn't want to be a walking zombie because she found out the woman she treated as a second mother to her died.

She had met the aftermath of death before with her sisters and mother—she could deal with it again.

"Damon." She said, sharply this time. "I'm _fine._" She said in a somewhat commanding voice. And then, after a length exhale, she then later added (softer this time): "But thank you for the concern." Bella bit her lip debating and then, mustering the courage, she stepped forward—leaning up onto her tiptoes—and pressed a kiss to Damon's cheek. She couldn't stop herself from lingering after her lips pulled away from his cheek and he didn't seem to mind, for Damon's over hand enclosed around her hip. Bella's heartbeat stuttered as she pulled away and saw the burning look on his face. She _knew_ they were both thinking about the kiss they shared. "_Damon_ . . ." Bella whispered, resting back onto her feet. Damon could feel her breath against his lips. "W-Why did you kiss me? Earlier—in the car."

Damon's hand gripped her hand and hip tighter. "Maybe I just wanted to."

"D-do y-you like me?" Bella knew little on the subject criteria of teenage love—or just love in general; she had never had a relationship before. The most 'action' she had ever gotten was when Jacob Black kissed her when she was 6 years old and again a few months back. And neither of the two experiences had gone well—the first time, Bella had pushed Jacob away in reaction—accidentally causing him to stumble back onto a pile of mud—and the second time ended up with her getting her hand plastered and Jake nursing a black eye. Regardless, Bella could only assume that someone had some sort of physical or emotional attraction towards the other when they kiss them.

Damon's face suddenly seemed closer than before. "Do I have to like you to kiss you?"

"N-no, I w-was just wondering." Bella stuttered.

"But maybe I do like you." Damon counteracted, taking the glass of water from her hand and placing it somewhere he didn't register. Bella was slowly becoming aware of the fact that Damon's face was moving closer to hers. "Maybe I have liked you since I saw you in your blue-and-white dress with red ribbons in your hair and wearing sparkly red shoes." Damon released the hand clasping her wrist to brush his fingers into her own tousled curls. "What do you have to say to that?" Damon breathed, his breath against her cheek, his lips brushing momentarily across the line of her jaw.

"That you're a paedophile." Bella blurted out, without even thinking. Two words: _Verbal. Diarrhoea._

Damon chucked breathily against her jaw. "I suppose that does make me a paedophile. You're what . . . barely eighteen?"

"I turned eighteen in September." Bella couldn't help but be offended, regardless. This caused Damon to chuckle again.

"I love your fierceness." Damon lips trailed across her jaw, across her cheek—slowly, tauntingly—until he was at the corner of her mouth. "A woman who knows how to fight back is certainly _arousing_." Damon pressed a slow kiss to the corner of her mouth, causing her mouth to open ajar, a heavy breath dispersing from her lips. Damon pressed another kiss there—it was quicker this time, more eager—as Bella's hand involuntarily moved to grasp his shoulder.

What was he _doing _to her?

"You're . . ."-she breathlessly started". . . So . . ."-her breath hitched when he pressed another kiss to the corner of her mouth-"_Cheesy_—you know that?"

Damon pulled back momentarily, eyebrows rose. "First I've heard of it." Damon grinned majestically down at her. "Are you trying to say you're not affected by my devilish charm?"

"_Devilish._" Bella repeated with a snort. "You can say that again."

Damon chuckled, his other hand moving to clasp her other hip and gently pulled her towards his chest. The laughter died out when Bella looked up and the tension filled the room. Damon's smirk faltered as he looked down at her—or at her lips more specifically. There seemed to be an element of hesitation running over Damon's expression as he looked back up at her eyes and darted his eyes back to her lips again.

Bella, self-consciously, ran her lip over her dry lips nervously. Damon watched this transaction sharply. Bella sucked in a low breath as the seconds passed by, until finally the temptation became too much: "You can . . . you can kiss me—if-if you want to, that is . . ."-Bella's ramblings was interrupted when she felt herself being pressed back against the frame of the door. Bella inhaled sharply and gasped as she looked up at Damon, eyes wide with shock and anticipation.

Her heartbeat accelerated when a growl parted from Damon's lips before they came crashing down on hers. His lips swallowed back the cry she made as they crashed against hers. They were just as cool and smooth as she remembered them from several hours ago; they moved against hers without holding back, not like the first time. This wasn't just kissing it was . . . how could she say _making out _without it sound ridiculous? Hell, even the word 'attacking' seemed appropriate in this present moment of time; his hands were everywhere—fingers clenching into her lips, hands moving sensually up and down her hip to the curve of her waist, riling her camisole further upwards each time, sending shivers of pleasure down her spine when his colossal fingers brushed against her bare skin, and when his own bare chest pressed against her own.

It wasn't like _he_ was just doing it all; Bella, herself, was reacting back in ways she never saw herself doing—her hands . . . they moved, grabbed and clawed at his chest. His skin was smooth—like his lips—and his chest was hard. Her lips moved just as vigorously against his. It was like their lips were fighting for dominance—and Damon obviously won, for the next thing she knew, his tongue was invading her mouth.

_Oh how she was glad Jess wasn't here to see _this_ kiss._

The sound of their lips moving, their breath respiring from their nostrils and mouths with each time they pulled away from one another, combined with the sound of her heart thumping in her head and ears was all she could hear. It was like they were in this strange bubble where she could only register what was going on between them—everything else was completely non-existent.

Bella almost cried out when his hands moved down her hips, fingers desperately trailing to her legs, taking a firm grasp there and hiked her up. She was now lifted from the ground, back rubbing against the wall and Damon's body fitted between her legs—of which were tightly pressed against his torso. She had never felt more _excited_—she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins as Damon pressed open-mouthed kisses on her jaw as he travelled back to her lips.

_So _this_ is what the girls made a big fuss about . . . _Bella vaguely heard the voice pass through her heard and couldn't help but agree with all the fuss. It was _amazing._

One of Bella's hands moved, travelling up his neck from his chest and coiled itself in his bed of thick black hair. She tugged hard and for a moment she felt Damon smile into her mouth before his lips pressed hard against hers again. She was about to pull again when she felt something _vibrating _in her hand—the hand against his chest. Damon's lips faltered—obviously feeling the buzzing against his chest—but that was only momentary, for he returned to his situation at hand before. And for a swift moment Bella too forgot about the strange buzzing until . . .

_Buzz. Buzz. Buzz._

It was her cell.

"_Damon . . ._" Bella tried to tell him. Her voice was raspy.

Damon chuckled against her lips. "I know, baby . . ."

"N-no it's my phone—i-its ringing."

_Buzz. Buzz. Buzz._

Damon pulled away from her and, resting his forehead against her neck, he looked down at their distraction. "Ignore it." Damon then snarled, pressing kisses to the column of her neck.

Bella looked at the screen, happening to see 'Jess' scrawled across it. Jess had seen her text, obviously, and decided to reply through call. "It's Jess—I can't ignore her call again . . . she knows I'm awake . . ."

And like that, her feet had been placed on the floor again with a heaving sigh. "Your friend has the undisputed talent of being an annoying _cockblock._" Bella opened her mouth, going to say something along the lines of denying the fact she was going to let Damon have sex with her tonight, but she knew—the way they had been attacking each other—it would have been a lie to say that. She immediately felt annoyed at herself for letting things get out of hand. Damon swooped down once more and pressed one last kiss to her lips. "See ya Dorothy."

And like that, he was sauntering back into the living room and disappeared from sight.

Bella, still pressed against the frame of the door, watched after him until the angry buzzing returned; she looked down at the cell and answered it with a breathless: "Hello?"

***.*.***

**I know, what a anticlimax.**

**But did you guys seriously think I was going to let them seal the deal after knowing each other for 2 days?**

**Bella's not that easy. This chapter can be classed as being "caught up in the moment" kinda time.**


	45. XLV

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Damon frustratingly listened to the sound of Bella's footsteps retreating up the stairs, speaking in low, murmuring tones to her cock-blocking friend. Damon was well on his way to hating the curly-haired girl Bella was friends with for disrupting his rendezvous with Bella. Her phone-call had been a complete anti-climax and now in Damon's eyes, Bella was going to be even more awkward when she comes to terms with what had happened between them; Which subsequently made Damon quickly assume that something like _that_ wasn't going to happen again anytime soon—or even ever.

"_So what happened after I left?_" Damon groaned when he heard the words of Bella's friend come from the room above him, where Bella was now situated—safely confined into her room again, phone pressed to her ear. Damon quickly—using inhuman speed—dressed himself; he threw a t-shirt over his head, swapped his drawstring pyjama pants for jeans, and tugged on his books. Within seconds, Damon was slipping undetected out of the Swan household, for Damon had no intention of listening to Bella talk about the past few hours like their kiss never happened.

Damon didn't look back until he had safely crossed into the forest grounds and the voice of Bella was nothing but a distant mumble. Damon paused momentarily, letting his head lull backwards and inspected the glistening stars in the high sky, nestled within the darkness of the night, and the smoky clouds that covered the majority of the silvery moon. For a moment, Damon forgot—he forgot his troubles; he was just Damon, in a forest, alone. Alone from his plaguing thoughts, life-dramas and _especially_ Elena and his new predicament: Bella.

But, of course—like most things he has been granted with in his life—it was short-lasted, for the next thing he knew, the sound of his phone chiming blared through his phone. He knew it was Stefan—he didn't have to pull out his cell to look; the calls from Stefan have been attacking his phone all day and he was beginning to more than aggravated. He _understood_; he understood that Stefan didn't want the nimble, fraying string of thread that symbolized their relationship—and frankly there was a small part of him that didn't want to either—but Stefan also had to understand that Damon needed time.

Even though it felt like years ago it just happened, his heart was broken barely a week ago. Though he may not feel the pain and anguish he expected to feel from Elena's concluding decision, the hurt was still there somewhere. Of course Stefan could never understand how that felt—to have his heartbroken the way it did—because Stefan has never been—in simpler description—the shorter straw. Elena chose him and he could never have felt the heartbreak from Katherine's "death" for he had been compelled all along—but in later recollections, Katherine had chosen him all along too. And as for Damon? He always pulled the short straw. He _was_ the short straw.

Damon snarled when the incessant ringing drove a burst of angry adrenaline through his veins; he yanked the cell from his jean pocket and pressed the cell to his ear, answering: "_What_, Stefan? What can possibly be so important?" Damon snapped, his voice sounding anger and more dangerous than he had anticipated.

"Damon,"-Stefan seemed to sigh, as if completely ignorant to the fact Damon was irritated-"Thank you for answering."

"Well I wasn't going to, but you're interrupting my vampire hunts—so make it quick, little brother." Damon snarled down the phone, glancing around him, eyes moving across the darkened forest at the dead of night.

Stefan exhaled heavily down the other end of the call. "Look, Damon—I know you're angry for the choice Elena made, and I'm sorry, but I really . . ."-

"That's it?!" Damon seethed. "You've been calling me all day just to _gloat_?"

-"_No—Damon!_ I need your help! There's another hunter in town. . ."-

"You don't need my help, Stefan—you have your newly vampire fiancé to help you with vampire hunters now, _remember_?" And like that, Damon snapped the cell shut, growling and heavily panting—his heavy exhales forming large clouds of mist air around him—and he contemplates crushing the cell into pieces. But he decides against it; and when he thought he had calmed down the anger, the buzzing returned. Stefan was trying to call him _again_. Damon snarled, dropped the cell, and then swirled—lashing out on the nearest thing; the next thing he knew there was a loud _crunch, _followed by a _crack_, as Damon punched a tree so hard that the sheer force of it alone was enough to send the large, mighty tree collapsing to the ground.

_Fucking Saint Stefan._

Damon thought just as he heard the buzzing stop. He waited, for a length amount of time—waiting for the buzzing to return—but when he was only met with silence, Damon exhaled and re-pocketed the cell into his jean pockets. The anger was slowly sizzling away, but it was still there—nonetheless, there was a part of him that didn't want to return to the Swan residence angry the way he was. Thus, the next thing Damon knew, he was moving through the forest in angry—inhuman—speed.

The next thing he knew, he was standing outside the closed and quarantined restaurant, The Lodge. He was hidden within the shadows, but he could see clearly that the body had been removed, the blood stains on the parking lot floor had been washed away and the woman's car had been removed.

Damon's face hardened at the thought of the other vampire being in Forks. Damon had been a vampire for a long time, meaning he had seen many vampire attack cases. He had seen the innocent cases, he had seen the cases committed by vampires enraged by bloodlust, and then he had seen cases like _this_. The first thing Damon had noticed upon seeing the body was that he had been more violent—more gruesome—than the others Charlie had shown him through pictures and this suggested the vampire was trying to make a statement. It was more than likely that the vampire knew Charlie, Damon and the rest of the team were onto the vampire and perhaps this had been its way of communicating with them. Whether it was done out of fear (fear of being hunted down and killed that is) or out of anger, the vampire was definitely trying to state a point.

It just so _happened_ the vampire chose someone the Swans had ties with. Definitely not a coincidence. This was done on purpose. The vampire obviously wanted them to see it as a threat; Damon knew—he's done it before. _Hell_, he's been this vampire before in the past—he was once the vampire that was tearing apart people's lives, just for the fun of it—but at some point along his road . . . he pinpointed it around the time he located to Mystic Falls . . . he's changed. And now he's the hunter, rather than being the hunted.

His old self wouldn't have liked the way he's turned out one bit.

Damon froze when Damon heard the sound of rustling. He turned around and quickly moved further into the shadows, jumping high into a tree-branched and cautiously watched as the source of the rustling came into view.

_What the _fuck? Was all Damon could think as he watched the large wolf, the size of a horse!, saunter past his view. Damon's wide eyes continued to watch the obliviously watched wolf until the last of its tail, the long russet-furred tail, disappeared with the rest of the body into the darkness. _What the fuck was that?!_

Maybe Forks wasn't quite as innocent as it first seemed.


	46. XLVI

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Charlie's eyes flickered open to the sound of the alarm clock sounding, drumming through his eardrums—summoning his consciousness. As soon as the incessant sound reached his ears, his hand involuntarily reached for the blaring alarm-clock, pressing down on the button that cut off the sound anon, with the fleeting thought of his daughter passing through his mind. Rolling onto his back, exhaling heavily, Charlie began to groggily rub the tiredness from his eyes. When his eyes pried open, white dots waved in and out of his vision until his eyes adjusted to the surroundings around him; twilight drifted through the cracks of the curtains and through the cracks of the curtains, he could just about make out the brilliant glow of dawn beginning to make its appearance.

The now mute alarm clock reflected the digits '_5:55_' back at him.

There was a pang of dread as Charlie looked at the clock. He was meant to meet Esme at the station in an hour. They had arranged at the crime scene to meet at the station to discuss a few necessities before they went to Forks General to question the witnesses. He dreaded every minute of spending close proximity with the sister of his deceased wife, purely because it had been so long since he had set eyes on Esme—the last he had seen Esme was at Renée's funeral and she barely stayed long . . . just long enough to show her face before she was off running into the shadows again. Yesterday had been the first time he had seen Esme in ten and a half years. But Esme had made it clear in their reunion yesterday her reappearance was no social visit…

…

_8 Hours Ago_

The air was cold, their breaths a cloud of smoke that mingled in the air as they slowly came to an abrupt stop three feet away from one another. When Charlie stopped, he finally got a good look at her face; what struck him most was that she barely looked like she had aged from the last he saw of her on her sister's funeral ten years ago. She still looked as if she was just entering her thirties, let alone her fifties—unnervingly to Charlie, whom was very much showing that he had passed the 50 mark. Her hair was still a thick, coloured caramel brown that ran in soft curls—except now, instead of being half way down her back, it was now cropped into a softly-curled bob around her heart-shaped face—and her face was free of any wrinkle. She was still beautiful and the resemblance between her and Renée was still there—glaring at him in bright neon lights.

Yet somehow she looked different—her cropped short hair was just the beginning of it. Her face didn't seem as gentle anymore. Her brown eyes that once belonged to his wife were hard and cold as ice. She was wearing a sophisticated suit jacket, shirt and trousers—outline her tense and stiff outline. She also looked paler—like she hadn't seen sun for a long time. But, thankfully, she looked just as much uncomfortable to be there as he was.

"Charlie." Esme acknowledged with a stiff nod. Barely any emotion passed through her eyes. "It's nice to see you again. How are you and Bella?"

Charlie was momentarily taken aback by how she composed herself. It was like old neighbours meeting again after many decades passed and it certainly did not have ownership to the warmth, affection and care it once held. Hearing how Esme addressed him, struck Charlie that it took him a while to regain his words: "Esme . . ."-he said steadily-". . . It's nice to see you too. Bella and I are fine—thanks." Charlie added with an afterthought. Then, casting a look over his shoulder, he noticed the hawk-like eyes of Officer White from where Charlie had left her from across the parking lot. In being caught red-handed, Officer White quickly looked away and scurried back to work. Charlie uncomfortably turned back to Esme, whom had been watching him with steely eyes. Charlie sighed exasperatedly. "What are you doing here, Es? It's been ten years . . ."-Charlie ran a tired hand through his greying hair-". . . what I'm trying to say is: why now? And _here_ of all places." Charlie gestured to the crime scene around him.

Esme seemed to ignore Charlie's question blatantly. "I work for the FBI now."

Charlie's eyebrows rose. Esme had met Charlie the summer were Esme had been readying to start the same college as him. She wanted to work in the crime force and after college, she furthered into crime investigation. She worked for many years as a Detective assistant before she got her own chance as one. She had just been promoted to Detective when Renée passed. The last Charlie heard, she had quit her job and disappeared out of sight. He had tried to find her but . . . but, like Chelsea, she seemed to disappear into thin air. Charlie gave up after five years.

"W-Wow, that's . . ." Words failed him.

Esme nodded solemnly. "Yeah." There was a long pause. "They've asked me to review this particular case."

That stumped Charlie. "Excuse me?" Charlie said, baffled. "Review this case . . ."-Charlie's face fell when the realization came to him, then he was angry-"Wait—are you talking about this case?"

"Yes and no." Esme answered. "They want me to review this case, as in the Forks attacks as a whole."

"This is ridiculous." Charlie gruffly said. "What are you trying to tell me, Esme? The FBI is onto me?"

Esme's face remained expressionless. "No. They're onto the vampire that is causing these attacks." Charlie stiffened causing Esme to sigh exasperatedly. "We know you know about vampires, Charlie."

Charlie's eyebrows shot up in half-disbelieving and half-denial. "H-How?"

"It was James Stanley." Esme quickly said. "Officer Stanley has a past record with the FBI long before now. I shouldn't be telling you this."

Charlie blinked in shock. "So Stanley has known about vampires all along?"

"Yes. But it was confidential information; he could never have told you without violating the Federal Bureau code—the exact code I am jeopardizing telling you this information." Esme paused, looking at Charlie's perplexed expression. She sighed when she saw the look that crossed his face; it may have been ten years but Esme had not forgotten the look that usually told her that Charlie was angry—and more specifically in this case, angry at someone. "Don't be angry, Charlie—what Stanley did was under his best interest."

Charlie looked back at Esme, nostrils flared. "I have everything under control. I don't need the FBI getting involved with this."

"I beg to differ," Esme stiffly retorted. "I am lead to believe you are getting help from a certain . . ."-Esme looked down at the notepad she held so tightly against her chest, her lips thinned-". . . _Mr. Salvatore_, whom is—I quote—a '_non-federal_ certified vampire hunter', if I am not mistaken." Esme looked back up at Charlie. The outer corners of his eyes were twitching with anger. "I am not here to argue with you, Charlie. On the contrary, the FBI has sent me here to help."

Charlie's eyes narrowed. "And what makes the _FBI_"-he spat out the word-"think _you _are capable of helping _me_ with this _situation_?"

Esme inhaled slowly. "I have certain expertise in this situation."

"Oh you _do_ do you?" Charlie's brows rose. "Is that what you've been doing for the past ten years?"

Esme's jaw clenched, her teeth gritting, diverting her eyes. "Charlie—_don't_ . . ."

"Why?" Charlie seethed back. "Tell me why I shouldn't."

"Because I'm here for business and business _alone_." Just then, when Charlie was about to retort, his name was called; Charlie turned around to see the head of forensics was a few metres from him. Charlie knew they had finished their job and it was time for them to report back. Charlie sighed and turned back to Esme. "How about I meet you tomorrow? Stanley informed me you were planning on talking to the witnesses of the body's finding again?"-Esme looked down at her notepad again-"A Miss. Lauren Mallory and Mr. Tyler Crowley?" Charlie nodded stiffly, not quite knowing how to reply. "OK . . ." Esme said slowly. "I will meet you at the station at 7 o'clock." Charlie went to turn away, but Esme regained his attention: "And Charlie?" Jaw-clenched, Charlie looked back at her: "I would like to meet this Mr. Salvatore as soon as possible. The board will want to know who this non-federal certified vampire hunter is."

***.*.***

**Sorry for the delay! I've been given tight deadlines by my teachers that would have been impossible to meet if I kept updating the way I had. But nonetheless, it's slightly calmed down in the workload front [for now] so will hopefully write another chapter tonight. **

**I wanted to introduce Esme, because I felt that I kind of left you blind-sighted when I didn't show you what happened between her and Charlie at The Lodge. I really hope I didn't sound too cheesey and incorrect i nthe fact that Esme is working for the FBI. Because I am not American nor am I apart of the FBI I have no idea how things run, but my idea is that the FBI have a knowledge of the vampires existences & try to handle the situations as best as possible. Simply put, I kinda see them as the 'cover ups' who cover up the vampire attacks to stop mass hysteria & keep the humans in the dark. **

**You will learn more about Esme as the chapters progress. Bella won't be meeting her any time soon because Esme feels she is here on strictly business and Charlie doesn't quite want Bella to see the 'new' Esme.**

**Thank you for helping me reach 500 reviews! You guys are amazing. Your support for this story is mind-blowing. I just hope I exceed your expectations.**


	47. XLVII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Charlie shook himself out of the memory of the previous night and pulled himself to his feet. Making sure not to make as much sound as he could, he shuffled around the room, slipping on his uniform while listening to the silence around him and the anxious thoughts drifting through his mind. He couldn't stop thinking of Esme and what she had announced yesterday; it was a shock as it was to hear that Esme was now working with the FBI but knowing that the FBI knew about the vampire terrorizing Forks was . . . unnerving. And—despite himself—he couldn't help but feel frustrated towards Stanley for what he had done even if it was . . . "_under his best interests_".

Charlie was torn. A part of him wasn't in the least bit looking forward to the events of the forthcoming day, but the other part of him he was curious: curious about Esme, her position in FBI, what had happened to her in the past 10 years and more importantly: how the FBI knew about vampires.

It was almost 6:15 when Charlie steps down the last step of the stairs and meandered into the kitchen, lost in his mountains of thoughts. The kitchen was empty which made Charlie quickly assume that Damon was still sleeping in the living room. This relieved him because Charlie hadn't quite gotten to the point to where he'd plan out how he'd tell Damon about Esme. He knew he would have to think about it eventually—Esme wanted to meet Damon after-all. She referred him as the "_non-federal_ certified vampire hunter"; which meant that the FBI had federal certified vampire hunters, and Damon wasn't one of them. Charlie was cautious to how Damon may take this news of someone from the FBI wanting to meet him.

Charlie poured himself a mug of coffee and started to make himself a fry-up breakfast that would make Bella squirm with the amount of fat and grease he would be ingesting. It was thanks to his worrying daughter that Charlie wasn't obese or suffering high-cholesterol problems. Esme had just been the same—constantly worrying—whereas Renée would always laugh it off and dismiss it with the shake of the hand. Bella would have gotten along well with Esme growing up—their personalities were practically identical, except Esme's seemed to have distorted in the ten years that she had spent non-existent. She didn't quite seem like the Esme she had once been anymore and that unnerved Charlie. Esme had been his best friend—but not anymore, apparently.

"Smells like archeries clogging." Charlie was awakened from his haze of thoughts to Damon's jokey voice.

Charlie chuckled and turned to watch the raven-haired man stride into the room with a breeze of confidence. Charlie knew exactly the type Damon was—the cocky type that didn't seem to have an air of self-doubt about him—Charlie had gotten that from the first sighting of him. But Damon was good—or at least that was what Liz said about him and Charlie trusted Liz's judgement faultlessly. If Liz had faith in Damon then, well, so did he. "Morning, son." Charlie said turning back to the stove, not noticing the wince Damon gave behind his back at the nickname. "You want some?"

"Sure." Damon lightly accepted. "How was your night?"

Charlie shook his head. "Rough." Charlie glanced over his shoulder. "Yours?"

Charlie seemed to miss the smirk Damon gave. "Restless." He answered casually. "When do we hit the station, Chief?"

"Ah, about that . . ."-Charlie hesitated-"I have to question the witnesses at the hospital. Why don't you have the morning off and head to the station at midday once I've finished the questionings and Deputy and Stanley have finished the paperwork. Then we can get straight down to the real stuff."

Damon's eyes narrowed suspiciously at Charlie momentarily, before Charlie turned to him, two plates of fried meat and eggs in hand. "OK."

Charlie nodded, placing the plates down, and placed himself on the chair opposite Damon. There was a long pause of silence between them, just the sound of their knives and forks scraping across the plate, before Charlie finally broke it: "There's actually something else I wanted to talk to you about, Damon." Damon looked up inquisitively, but saying nothing. Charlie cleared his throat. "You remember the woman in the picture who I told you was Bella's aunt?" Damon's brows furrowed—not quite seeing where this was going—but nodded nonetheless, urging him on. "Well . . . Bella's aunt turned up at the crime scene well after you had left."

Damon's brows rose. "Oh?"

Charlie inhaled, nodding slightly. "Yes. She's working with the FBI now. And the FBI has ordered to have a report on the animal attacks."

"What?" Damon practically chocked. "You've got to be fucking joking."

Charlie ignored the slip of language. "No—I'm not. Esme is the one they have chosen to record a report on the animal attacks. She's here to help."

"Right . . ." Damon said slowly.

". . . And she wants to meet you, Damon." Charlie sighed. "_Somehow_ Esme has found out about you helping us with the animal attacks and wants to meet you—because you're not federal certified."

_Federal Certified?_ Damon thought back, incredulous. _What is this shit? Men in Black?_

"I can imagine what you're feeling right now, Damon, but I think it would be best for the both of us if you met Esme."

Damon shrugged. "OK."

Charlie hesitated. "Just . . . just don't tell Bella, OK?"


	48. XLVIII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Bella woke up groggily to the sound of a car backing out of the driveway and due to many years of familiarizing herself to the sound, she knew the bar belonged to Charlie's cruiser. Thus, meaning, it was already morning and Charlie had already left for work. Bella groaned, wishing more than ever that she could just drop back to sleep and sleep for the next week.

She was exhausted—she barely slept a wink last night—and Damon was the main reason of it; at first her mind was revolving around Cora, her death, and how things would be now; but when it would become too emotional to think about, Bella was try to distract herself with something else—and that erotic kiss downstairs was the first thing that would pop into her head, and the next thing she knew, it was all she would think about. His lips . . . his hands running along her body . . . his chest pressed against hers . . . their hips bumping. Everything! She did everything to try and get it out of her mind—but no luck. Twos passed after her call with Jess and she was still awake, tossing and turning, lost in her own daze of thoughts and memories from the past few hours.

Bella sighed, cracking her eyes open, and just as she thought daylight was making its way across the sky. Bella cracked her head to the side and looked at her digital clock; it was almost 7 o'clock now. Bella moaned, knowing she had no choice but to get up now. She found relief in knowing that Damon had probably gone off with Dad to the station to work. Just as Bella thought that her cell beeped. Half-wondering whether it was a message from Charlie saying where he had gone, she picked it up and inspected the message; it was from Jess.

**Still up for going school today? Dad said it would be totally OK for us to flunk school today. We can have a movie-day—just us girls and of course our boys: Ben& Jerry. Whatta you say B? XX—Jess.**

Bella smiled at the text. Although the offer did sound extremely tempting, the last thing she wanted to do was be cooped up in one room all day watching movies. She was sure she would have a good time—it was always inevitable when it came to hanging out with Jess—but she felt like she wanted to go to school, just for a distraction with everything that had happened. She was also eager to hear how Lauren Mallory and Tyler Crowley were after hearing from Jess they had been the ones who found Cora's body. She may not have got along with either of them, per say, but neither of them deserved to discover something like that.

With that, Bella sent her reply to Jess, telling her she planned to go in but Jess was more than welcome to stay home and Bella could find another ride. She was only saying that to make sure Jess didn't feel guilty—she was more than sure that she would probably end up walking (she had no temptation to ask Damon or Dad to drive her to school). But Jess replied back within seconds (Jess was always a morning bird on weekdays), telling her that she'll go to school if Bella was and to see her when she picked her up at the Swan residence usual time.

Bella sighed, having the inkling that Jess was only going in because of her, and felt she was sometimes _too_ lucky to have a friend like Jess.

Bella pulled herself out of bed and because she was certain she was alone in an empty house, walked straight out of her bedroom and straight to the bathroom, to have a shower. Closing the door behind her, Bella stepped inside into the bathroom, beginning to strip off her scarce clothing. She awkwardly waited in the chill of the bathroom for the water of the shower to heat up before hopping into the bathroom and straight under the streams of hot water the billowed from the shower head.

She sighed. The warmth of the shower was probably the only time that Bella would feel any ounce of heat on a usual day in Forks. When you're living in Forks, you kind of have to stick your chin up and deal with the coldness—and the warm showers or baths in the evening or mornings were the rare luxuries of warmth. Bella had grown up in Forks, she was used to it.

Bella hummed to herself—humming that was drowned out by the loudness of the running water—before beginning on her usual wash routine. Picking up her strawberry-scented shampoo, squirting some on her head, she began to lather it up in her hair—smiling slightly at the artificial scent of strawberries that drifted in the atmosphere around her. She always loved the smell—probably because the smell was one of the first, and strongest, memories she had of her Mom. Her Mom always smelt like strawberries. And flowers too.

After washing the shampoo buds out, she began to condition her hair and then move onto washing her body with a simple bar of soap. She wasn't the kind of girl that went all out and bought fancy body-wash. She got allergic reactions from most of them anyway. After the third reaction back when she was fourteen, she gave up and stuck with soap. Nothing's wrong with soap. Soap is standard.

After finishing rinsing off all the suds and bubbles clinging to her hair and body, Bella shut off the water. Gathering most of her hair in her hands, Bella twisted it tightly to get out most of the water from her hair. Just as the sound of the water from her hair splashed against the porcelain of the bath tub, Bela heard a strange sound that made her freeze. Her lips puckered and her brows furrowed. It almost sounded like a _zipper_ being pulled down.

What…

Bella sighed and shook her head, turning and grasping the shower curtain. She pulled it back and as she did she saw _it… _Him. Damon. Standing there, facing the toilet, hands down _there_. "Oh my God!" Bella screamed at the top of her lungs. Damon swung his head around, turning to look at her and _smirked. _CRAP! She was naked. Bella felt like she was turning scarlet red from head to toe; she yanked the curtain back, panting in panic. "Damon! What the hell are you doing here?" Damon was in the bathroom. While she was showering. Hands down _there_. Oh my God, oh my God—he isn't… he isn't _masturbating_ is he? "Y-You're n-not… _y'know_…are you?" Bella squeaked.

"What—pissing?" Damon retorted, nonchalantly. Bella sighed in relief. Phew. He was just peeing. Well, at least peeing was better than… _y'know. _"Why? What did you think I was doing… _wait_"-Damon exasperatedly said, sounding almost disbelieving-"_Wait,_ you didn't think I was _masturbating _did you?" OK, now he was lying it on thick. Typical Damon. "_Pur_-lease, Dorothy—I have more class than that."

Bella rolled her eyes, her arms wrapping around her body self-conscious that he could see her through the shower curtain. "Why are you in here anyway?" Bella snapped.

"I already said: I was pissing."

"_While_ knowing I was in the shower?" Bella said, disbelievingly.

She could almost see Damon shrug. "I was desperate."

"So desperate you couldn't have waited?"

"I had a lot of coffee." Damon said, his voice sounding antagonizing-ly joyful as he said it. "You have nice breasts by the way. I only saw a glimpse of them but they looked nice, full and perky to me. What are you—a C cup?"

Bella's blushed even hotter. She was tempted to put the water back on, turning the nozzle right to freezing cold, just to cool her clammy-hot body down. "Damon!" Bella said through gritted teeth. "Why haven't you gone with Dad?"

"He told me I could have the morning off; then mentioned something about meeting someone _very_ important."

Despite the odd circumstance they were in, Bella's eyebrows furrowed. "Important person—who?" _Who could be more important than the police?_

"Just someone." Damon said casually and then said: "_Jeeze_ Bella, you make it sound so serious. It's not like he's meeting the FBI or anything."

Bella rolled her eyes. "_Thank_ you Damon." Bella sucked in a breath. "Now, if you're finished, could you be useful and either leave the room or hand me a freakin' towel . . ."-Bella was cut off by her own shriek when the curtains were thrown back, revealing a fully-clothed Damon-"_Damon_!" Bella quickly moved to cover all her parts with struggle. "What are you doing?! Close the curtain! Can't you see I'm naked?"

Damon smirked and looked down with raised brows. "Yes, I _can_ see that you're naked." Damon ran his tongue along his upper lip as he moved from the arm that covered her lips to the other arm that covered her other private parts. "Y'know, you should have said you were having a shower—we would have helped the environment sharing a shower." Bella tried to push back the image of her and Damon in the shower and glared at Damon angrily, face flushed with embarrassment. Damon chuckled and then sighed, leaning against the wall beside the bath. "So—are we going to talk about the massive elephant in the room that is last night or not?" he said, in the most casual voice.

Bella gritted her teeth. "_No_. Now give me the towel."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Fine—here." Damon tossed the towel at her, almost making her move the arm covering her breasts to grab it. Bella quickly—and awkwardly—wrapped it around her body. "But just for the record, I lied: I didn't need to pee. I just wanted to see your naked, wet body." Damon shrugged. Bella gasped loudly, her face turning redder than before, and watched Damon turn on the spot and stride out the room, struggling for words.

Bella narrowed her eyes. "Jur-Jerk!" she stammered, shrugging for words. She vaguely heard Damon chuckle before the door slammed shut. "_Argh_!"

***.*.***

**Nothing like a bit of Della bants.**


	49. XLIX

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Meanwhile, Charlie sucked in a steady breath as he turned into Forks Police Station in his cruiser. Just as he parked the cruiser in his marked spot, the digital clock on the dashboard flickered onto 7AM. Charlie reached up to brush a hand over his forehead before turning to look out of the windows. She was there—waiting at the steps which lead through into the station. She was dressed similarly to yesterday—except instead of a black suit, she was wearing a dark grey one instead—and her caramel curls swayed in the spring breeze.

Esme was looking directly at him. Waiting.

Charlie took one last inhale of breath, pushing aside the apprehension he felt, and stepped out of the cruiser. He stuffed his hands into his uniform pants pockets and slowly made his way across the small station parking lot towards Esme. Her expressionless seemed to change slightly as Charlie approached, deciding to give Charlie a soft—semi-meaningful—smile of welcome. Nonetheless, it annoyed Charlie how at ease she was; after ten years of being AWOL someone would think she would show a little bit of nerves or sheepishness.

Well, apparently that was another aspect that had changed in Esme in the past ten years.

"Charlie," Esme greeted in an austere tone of voice. Glancing down at her wrist watch, she gave Charlie a scarce smile. "Not even a minute to spare. It's nice to see that after all these years you're still punctual." Esme shrugged the sleeve down of her suit-jacket before wrapping her arm around the folder she held to her chest.

Charlie didn't know whether to feel embarrassed by Esme's compliment or annoyed at the way she reminisced in the past. "I see one thing hasn't changed about you; you're still the first one to ever get somewhere." Charlie stiffly replied, eyes slightly narrowing on Esme tensely.

Esme smiled back—though the smile seemed almost sarcastic. "Well, you know what they say; the early bird catches the worm." Esme said in a sing-song voice. Her voice was bell-like and momentarily made Charlie think back to the days when college-girl Esme would be singing on stage at the college bar. Esme was always a great performer and a big fan of country music. Charlie wondered if she still listened to the country music she did back then. "Shall we be off then?" Esme prompted after a moment's pause.

Charlie frowned, coming out of his thoughts. "Yes." Charlie then glanced at the parking lot—searching for a car. He found none. His lone cruiser was the only car insight. "So, I guess you'll be riding with me?" Charlie grumbled.

Esme's face stretched into an impish grin. "I thought you'd never ask." And like that Esme was strutting over to the car, her hips swaying from side-to-side. Charlie gritted his teeth in annoyance before striding after Esme, beginning to hate Esme's presence already. By the time Charlie reached the car, Esme was already placed in the passenger seat and was fiddling with the stereo.

"Hey!" Charlie said. "No touching." Charlie seethed.

Esme merely rolled her eyes but complied, silently watching Charlie start the car and back out of the parking lot. There was a long silence in the car between them until Charlie had reached the high street; that was when Esme spoke up. "Bella has to be at least 18 now." Esme said aloud, turning to look at Charlie with staid look upon her gently beautiful face. Charlie cleared his throats, but no words rouse, thus he settled for a steady nod. "Thought so." He heard Esme mutter quietly. "A senior?" Esme said, louder this time, as if the previous comment was to herself.

Charlie glanced at her sideways. "Yes."

Esme nodded, turning her head towards the window. "Any college ideas? Does she plan to be a cop like Daddy?"

Charlie guffawed loudly. "Bella—a cop? I wouldn't let her anywhere near a pistol. That girl is a clumsy disaster." Charlie shook his head, smiling affectionately to himself in amusement. "Nah," Charlie then said after a while. "Bella doesn't want to be a cop. She plans to go to college actually—she applied for Dartmouth."

Esme blinked, a look of surprise on her face. "Dartmouth?"

Charlie's chest puffed with pride. "Yep." He popped the 'p' with his lips. "To study English Literature. Bella loves books."

Esme turned her eyes to stare out of the window, thoughtfully. "Yes—I remember. Does she still have the copy of Wuthering Heights?"

"That battered old thing? Sure." Charlie snorted. "I find her nose glued to it every few weeks or so."

Esme smiled to herself almost. "I always knew she would like it. I loved it when I was young." Esme swallowed as the image of pre-adolescent-self flashed before her eyes, sitting up on the hammock on the porch of her childhood home, eyes intently scanning the pages—eagerly absorbing the words printed out upon the yellowing pages. That had to be over forty years ago now…

"Still no intention to meet Bella?" Charlie then said, a sense of annoyance in his voice.

Esme quickly shook her head, surely and adamantly. "No—she's better off not seeing me. I'm here for business and purely business."

"Hm." Charlie hummed tensely, considering Esme's words. "Business huh?" Esme glanced at Charlie, expectantly. There was a long moment of silence. "So; how _does_ the FBI know about vampires?"

Esme chuckled. "The FBI doesn't just know about _vampires_." Esme said, almost humorously. "They know about vampires, werewolves, witches—including that pack of shape-shifters in La Push." Charlie cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. They know about _vampires, werewolves_ and _witches_?! They even know about the Quileute pack. How? … _Stanley_. Charlie's jaw clenched tightly, his fists curling tighter around the wheel that you could almost see the whites of his knuckles. "Calm down," Esme sang from next to him. "Officer Stanley didn't leak about the shape-shifters. The FBI has known about them since 1934." Esme inhaled. "And as for the others; well, the FBI has known about them for almost centuries—even before the FBI was even the FBI. Back then it was an organization of hunters; humans that went out and destroyed all mythical creature that had exposed danger on vast amounts of people or to vanquish any prospect of mass hysteria. They even brought about the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 when a coven of witches attempted to kill the whole human population of Salem."

Charlie cleared his throat, shifting again from side to side, uncomfortable.

Esme glanced at him and smirked. "You don't believe me, do you?"

Charlie sniffed. "I just find the idea of _witches _a little, erm… ludicrous."

"Riiight. So you believe vampires and humans transforming into wolves real, yet you can't believe witches are real?"

Charlie merely shrugged.

Esme sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Before we go into question Miss. Mallory and Mr. Crowley, is there anything you can tell me?" and like that, when Charlie thought for a split second that he was seeing a spark of the old Esme—or at least not a robot Esme—Esme became a wall of professionalism, as simple as flicking a switch.

Charlie nodded solemnly. "Yes. Laur-_Miss._ Mallory and Mr. Crowley both reported to seeing someone standing over Cora's body when they stumbled upon her."

Esme opened up her folder, looking down at the notes inside. "According to forensics the body had been dead for over thirty minutes when Miss. Mallory and Mr. Crowley found it."

"It could be possible that the killer lingered around…"-

Esme interrupted: "A killer will not linger around the victim." She said this firmly.

Charlie sighed and rolled his eyes: -"From not we know of. It could be likely that this vampire _wanted_ to be seen." Charlie said, thinking back to what Damon had said the night before at the crime scene.

Esme seemed to consider this. "Possible." Esme muttered. "Or the person could have been another vampire working with the first vampire—this vampire could have been checking to see if the job was done, per say."

Charlie gritted her teeth. "You have no proof that there is more than one vampire involved with these attacks."

"But you also don't have any proof that all these attacks are done by _one _vampire."

Charlie and Esme stared each other down stubbornly.

Today was going to be a _long_ day.


	50. L

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Twenty minutes later, a _fully-clothed_ Bella stepped down from the last step of the staircase onto the ground floor. Her lip caught between her teeth, the sounds of life drifted to her senses. She knew it was Damon and the sounds of pots and pans clanking radiated from the kitchen followed by the sound of sizzling. Bella sucked in a deep breath, her eyes flickering to the front door of the house and narrowed her eyes in determination.

She was just going to run for it. If she got out there quick enough maybe Damon wouldn't even bother coming after her. Then she could wait outside until Jess rolled up in her Ford. Bella released her lip to flush her tongue over her dry, moistening them, and then pressed them together—her eyes strained on the front door. She tightened her grip on the strap of her rucksack with one hand and tucked her hair behind her ear with the other. Bella glanced left to the kitchen before, exhaling quietly, she rushed for the door—head down and feet taking big, quick, leaping steps across the floor.

Bella's heart skipped a beat when she reached the door—she had made it! She reached for the knob of the door and then…

A pale, large masculine hand slammed down on the door effectively stopping her from opening the door. Bella winced as she eyed the chunky silver and blue ring on his ring-finger, momentarily closing her eyes and groaning inwardly, whispering "_dammit_" under her breath. Bella hadn't even heard him sneak up on her.

"And where do you think _you're_ going?" Bella swallowed thickly, her eyes drooping slightly, when she felt his breath blow over the side of her face. His face was at her ear—she could feel their hair brushing together and his chest rubbing against hers. Bella pushed back the rising heat at her cheeks and…_ahem_… y'know—_down there._ Bella flinched to herself, inwardly cursing. This was the _exact_ thing she wanted to avoid.

Bella's hand tightened around the door knob. "School." she managed to wheeze out. She did not like the way her voice sounded to her own ears.

Damon chuckled—the sound vibrating in the air around her. _Don't faint, don't faint, don't faint. _"Not yet you aren't." Bella watched the hand slip from the door and within moments it had placed itself on her jean-clothed hip, the other joining the action on the other hip. The next thing she knew, she was being turned on the spot, being faced in the direction of the kitchen—Damon's body still rubbing up against the back of hers. "I made you breakfast." He said into her ear, putting a little pressure on her hips causing her to be pushed forward and her feet to move on accord. Damon was close behind.

Bella blinked at the new recollection. "You made _breakfast_?"

"Yes. Is that so hard to believe?" _Yes_, was what Bella was meant to say—but words failed her. Damon Salvatore had made her _breakfast_. Damon seemed to find humour in her silence, chuckling against her ear before he moved his head away from her—a subconscious thought from the back of her head missed the way his close proximity while her body was thankful for the space. "A little birdy told me that you have the habit of skipping breakfast and I was ordered to make sure you don't leave the house without having a substantial breakfast." Bella jumped slightly when she felt Damon's chin perch lightly ontop of her head and the fingers on her hip move up and down in circling motions.

"Oh." She cracked out. Trust Dad to give Damon an order like that. Bella attempted to distract herself from Damon's circling motions on her lips by looking straight at the table. She almost gasped in surprise. There, set out on the table, were a steaming plate of pancakes. Pancakes! Her favourite. There was also a variety of fruit scattered on the plate—mainly berries—as well as a cup of squeezed orange juice beside it. And the cherry on the top: a rose placed on-top. "What . . ." Bella stumbled forward, completely forgetting about the grip Damon had on her. "You did _all _this?"

Bella was inspecting the breakfast, but turned to look at him just in time to see his reaction. He had shrugged. Bella struggled to swallow; this was the first time Bella had looked at him since the shower incident and . . . well, this sight looked just as tempting as the pancakes on the plate—let's put it that way. He was wearing a skin-tight V-neck t-shirt—black, of course—with some low-rise jeans. Bella wondered what she would see if the top were to rise up . . .

_Stop it Bella!_

"Uh . . ." Bella quickly turned away, her voice shaking. Reaching up to grab a piece of her hair, she tugged on it nervously. "Even the rose?" Bella distracted herself by grabbing the drink and taking a gulp of the cool orange juice. It helped cool her in places that she definitely needed it.

"I may have grabbed that form your neighbour's lawn."

Bella almost chocked on the juice in her mouth. Clamping a hand to her mouth, slamming the glass down, she turned to Damon eyes wide. "You stole a rose from Mrs. Montgomery's flowerbed?" she spluttered. Damon looked confused. Bella snickered to herself, shaking her head. "You have committed a huge felony, dude. Mrs. Montgomery's roses are her pride and joy. Be prepared for the Spanish Inquisition, dude—be prepared." Bella chuckled.

Damon rolled his eyes, thinking back of the time when he happened to see the neighbour—Mrs. Montgomery—when she was tending to her roses. "I think I can handle myself against an 80 year old."

Bella chuckled throatily, holding up a hand. "Hey, she's not just _any_ 80 year-old. She once chased after me with a spade when I accidentally stepped on her lawn. You better be careful when she finds out you did it—I say when because I'm pretty sure Mrs. Montgomery has CCTV cameras around the place to make sure no-one damages her precious lawn." Bella snickered.

"Looks like I'm in big trouble." Damon stepped forward, smirk on his face, advancing on her. Bella didn't like the way this was going. "Will you bail me out?" Damon said, his eyebrows wiggling up and down, smirk widening.

Bella blushed, looking quickly away. "OK,"-Bella held up her hands-"This was exactly what I was trying to escape from."

Damon's smirk didn't lessen, crossing his arms over his sculptured chest, looking vaguely humorous and interested. "Oh? And what is that?"

"Your cheesy sex-orientated comments, that's what!"

Damon chuckled to himself. "I think you'll find the correct word to describe it is: _flirting. _It is obviously a foreign concept in your life—or Forks in general."

"But _why_?" Bella blurted out. Damon didn't reply so quickly this time—in-fact, he didn't reply at all—and when she looked at him, she noticed the smirk had gone. Bella exhaled deeply. "I'm sorry; I'm just a little confused." Bella ran a stressed hand through her hair. "Look, I've never had a boyfriend before—or any remote romantic interest . . . and Jake doesn't count—that was practical sexual-molest in my mind." Bella shuddered and Damon's lips twitched. Bella sighed again. "I'm not the type of girl that expects the chivalry—the horses and carriages, the romantic gestures, etcetera etcetera . . ."-Bella rolled her eyes, waving her hand-"But I still want to have some sort of . . . _understanding_ of what I'm going into. And that kiss last night? As _amazing _as it was—I have no idea what it meant to y-you or even between _this_"-Bella waved a hand between the two of them-"—_us._"

There was a long pause. The most reaction Damon had made was crossing his arms back over his chest. His face was now a void of emotion.

"I'm sorry," Bella shook her head. "But I just feel like this has gone to fast—I've barely known you a week! If we just step back and leave it for a while then m-maybe we'll both understand what we—_I_—want from this. I hope you understand this." Bella whispered the end bit softly, her head ducking to the floor. Just as Bella began to look back up at Damon, the sound of a car horn honking, saving her from the awkward silence she knew Damon was going to gift her. Bella licked her lips and peaked up at Damon through her lashes. "I have to go now. S-sorry I never got a glance to eat the food you made—i-it looks delicious."

And then Bella was rushing for the door.


	51. LI

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Jess was waiting in the car, watching Bella rush across the lawn, head ducked and clutching the straps of her rucksack tightly. Bella slipped into the car—feeling the scrutiny of Jess' gaze burning onto the side of her head as she ducked into her seat, strapping herself in, and stuffed her rucksack to her feet quite roughly. Jess watched, her eyebrows rising when she looked at the flustered/troubled face of her best friend. She was now chewing on her lip, looking straight ahead, obviously lost in thought. She wondered if the girl even realized she had got into her car.

"Bella,"-Bella's eyes snapped to hers-"Are you OK?"

Bella blinked and looked around her. "Oh. Sorry. No, I-I'm fine. How are you?"

"I'm fine. But you don't look fine." Jess said accusingly. "Did you even get any sleep last night?"

Bella shook her head and then nodded, tucking strands of hair behind her ear. "Yeah—sure. I did, yeah. I'm just a little flustered—I was rushed this morning. I . . . uh, had a little accident in the shower." Bella inwardly winced to herself, listening to how dumb her words sounded. She was a _really_ bad liar. Maybe she should take some lessons in lying or something. Do they actually _exist_?

Jess' eyebrows rose, looking at Bella like she didn't believe any word Bella had said. "And did you slip and hit your head in the shower?" Jess retorted and then sighed. "We don't have to go school today, y'know. I'm sure Dad will happily call in saying we've got a bad case of food poisoning. And since Mom is away, we'll have the whole house to ourselves."

"No . . . I need to go to school; I need the distraction, I think." Then, with an afterthought, Bella looked up at Jess. "You're Mom's away?" Mrs. Stanley works at Forks' bank, except she never works on Fridays, and today was Friday. Mrs. Stanley usually spent her Fridays at home, watching reruns of _Real Housewives of New Jersey _or _The Ellen Show_.

As soon as Bella said it—or rather questioned it—Jess' face became stern. "Mum got a phone call late last night from Mystic Falls—my Uncle passed away." Jess revealed, solemnly. "It was around the time we finished our call that Mum was told. She boarded a flight to Virginia first thing this morning; she wanted me to go with her but . . . but I didn't quite up for sitting through a five hour flight to sit around and talk about my Uncle's death."

Bella looked at Jess sadly. She couldn't imagine what Jess was thinking or going through right now; first Cora and now her Uncle. Bella only vaguely remembered the funeral of her second eldest sister Heidi. Her Mom's funeral was the only one that had scratched itself back into her mind. But that was different—she was still a child back then, the memories were less fresh, whereas Jess is eighteen . . . she'll more than likely remember this time more vividly.

"I'm so sorry." Bella murmured. "Why don't we go back to yours and do as you said—movies, popcorn and of course not forgetting the most important: _Ben & Jerry's_." Bella gave her best friend a small, suggestive smile, her eyes gleaming. "Hey—I'll even let you watch every Sandra Bullock movie you own, _all of them_." Jess opened her mouth to speak but Bella quickly interrupted, holding up a finger in gesture: "_And_ I'll even throw in the suggestion of doing mani and pedis."

Jess sucked in a sharp breath, a small smile on her lips, her face playfully thoughtful and conflicted. "Oh tough decision,"-Bella cracked out a smile-"But I'm going to have to decline." Bella raised her eyebrows, disbelievingly. _Did she not hear my last offer? _"I just think you're right; we need the distraction—whether that's enduring a _torturous _gym lesson with Coach Clapp or bitching about Jennifer Ford and Mike in the cafeteria." Bella and Jess both smiled and chuckled at that. Jess sighed. "But truthfully? I'm just thankful I'll have you to sit by and talk to when everything's getting me down."

Bella smiled, reaching over and grabbing Jess' hand, though inside another feeling was inflating. _Guilt. _All this time Bella hadn't muttered one word about what had been happening with Damon to Jess and that meant something. Jess is her _best friend_. They both tell each other everything, they never kept anything from each other—except, for apparently this. Bella sucked in a breath and clenched Jess' hand.

"There's something I need to tell you." Bella said in the most serious tone she could.

_Was she about to do the right thing? Was this something she should be getting her best friend into?_

"What?" Jess soft voice broke her from her reverie.

Bella looked at Jess silently for a moment, seeing her earnest large ocean blue eyes and her concerned face. In her face and eyes, Bella could see the trust and loyalty between them. Bella nodded to herself, knowing this was the decision she wanted to make. But then, with a wistful glance backwards, thinking of the person that was most likely still lingering in the shadows of the house she said to Jess nervously: "I'll tell you on the way to school. I don't feel comfortable telling you here."

Jess blinked once. "OK . . ."-taking one careful glance at where Bella had glanced backwards nervously over her shoulder, Jess turned her attention to the car—restarting the ignition—and started the car. It rumbled beneath them. There was silence between them as Jess pulled out back onto the road and began to sail down the street back into the centre of Forks from where she came. Once they hit the end of the road, Jess spoke up:-"Does this have anything with the elusive Damon Salvatore by any chance? I couldn't help but notice that Mustang is still parked in the driveway." Jess mumbled lowly

Bella exhaled heavily and nodded her head.

"Well?" Jess prompted. "What is it? _Oh God_—he's not a terrorist or something is he? I always knew there was something wrong about him. The way he didn't exist and the Italian name was suspicious. Wait—is he a part of the mob?"

Bella fluttered her eyes closed and squeezed, shouting out over Jess' incessant ramblings: "He's not human!"

Well _that_ shut Jess up.


	52. LII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"OK, let me get this straight," Jess seethed as she dumped her tray down on the cafeteria table hours later, a timid Bella following shortly behind. "And please fill free to interject when I begin to sound completely insane—which is how all of this sounds, by the way." Jess held up her hand, speaking in tone of matter-of-fact. "_You_—and I mean your five year-old-self—met a man in a meadow thirteen years ago where he called you Dorothy, you called him Prince Eric from _My Little Mermaid, _and he caught you butterflies. And _now_ thirteen years on, present day, a guy who looks exactly the same as the guy from your memory turns up at your house to hunt rabid forest animals calling you Dorothy."

Bella sighed, opening up her salad. "You make it sound like I've lost it."

"That's _exactly_ how I'm trying to make it sound." Jess retorted and Bella winced. Jess pursed her lips and then winced in her own regret. "I'm sorry—it came out a little more harsh than I intended. It's just a little bit, well, difficult to wrap your head around when your friend comes out with her houseguest isn't human." Jess said, louder than intended, just as a group of girls walked past. One girl glanced at them, but didn't seem to take any notice from their conversation, returning to her own with her friend as they approached an empty table a few metres away from them. Panicked, Bella reached forward and jabbed Jess with the plastic fork. "Ouch! That hurt!" Jess hissed, nursing the skin where Bella jabbed.

"Then keep it down." Bella whispered, gesturing with her head towards the group of girls that had placed themselves down with their lunch trays.

Jess ducked her head sheepishly and gave her a weak smile. "Sorry. Mom said my voice has no volume adjuster."

Bella waved off the apology, dismissing it. "It doesn't matter. What _does_ matter is whether you believe me,"-Bella peaked up at Jess through her eyelashes-"Do you? Do you believe me?"

Jess bit her lip for a moment, staring at Bella, before apparently caving. "Fine, _yeah_ I do. I smelt the fish on that guy from the moment he paraded into this town—hell I found out that he didn't exist before he came to Forks." Jess waved a hand around. "That guy—_alien_, oh, whatever he is—is far from normal." Jess paused, her eyes narrowed as she dazed off into thought, snapping out of it moments later. She swallowed, leant forward, and murmured to Bella with wide eyes: "You don't think he really is an alien, do you?"

Bella held a hand up to her mouth and giggled.

Jess puffed, rolled her eyes, and leant back. "It was just an idea. So—all knowing—what do _you_ think he is?"

"How am I meant to know?" Bella retorted. "I haven't read his journal."

Jess' eyes brightened. "D'you think he owns a journal?"

Bella snorted at the idea of Damon Salvatore writing in a journal. "No."

"Well," Jess shrugged, leaning back in her chair. "Maybe its worth looking through his bag—see what you can find." Jess looked up and laughed at Bella's expression. "Oh come on Bella—it's looking through a bag, not robbing a bank." Jess said, laughing, her vigorous curls moving as she laughed.

Bella winced. "But what if I get caught?"

"Then make up some lame excuse and make a run for it, simple as." Jess shrugged like it was the simplest thing in the world. Bella couldn't help but wonder whether Jess had been in many situations like it—something told her she had. Jess' eyes flickered when she caught something in the corner of it. And when she noticed that Bella was looking at her, Jess gestured with her head in the direction of where she had been staring. "The flock has arrived." Bella furrowed her brows, confused to what she had meant, but when she turned her head to look over her shoulder she immediately saw whom Jess had been referring to.

It was Lauren's friends—well, Bella would even call them that, more like posse. They walked in, donned in their cheerleading uniforms, and looking slightly out of place without their leader sauntering forward into the cafeteria first.

"Funny; they don't look so confident now their master is away." Jess dryly said, narrowing her eyes on Jennifer Ford in a glaring manner.

Bella looked away from the group of girls that were now descending in the area of their usual table. "I heard Tyler has been released from the hospital, but Lauren is still in there." Bella frowned solemnly, stabbing her fork down on her salad a little too vigorously. "After what they found they'll probably never be the same again."

"_Hopefully._" Jess grumbled. Bella looked up at Jess unbelievingly and shot her a glare. At the glare, Jess rolled her eyes and looked back down at her own food. "OK—that was a little harsh."

"Just a little?" Bella retorted. "They found a dead body—just; show them a little respect, OK?"

After that the conversation dimmed down and neither of them spoke for the remainder of lunch. Both of them silently ate their lunch respectively and then when the bell rang, the shrugged their rucksacks onto their shoulders, picked up their trays and followed the rest of the crowds out of the cafeteria where they dumped their trays. By the time they reached outside the cafeteria, rain had begun to fall from the sky and the two teens immediately shrugged the hoods of their jackets over their heads and began to move through the hazy streams of rain falling from above towards their adjoined Biology lesson.

It was just as a large group of people dispersed into a building, leaving it just the two of them, that Jess finally spoke over the rain: "Look—I'm sorry, OK?" Jess huffed. "I should have been more respectful—especially since it was Cora that they found. I'll be nice about her from now on." Jess' exasperated voice lowered at the very end when Jess mentioned the death of their former boss and friend.

Bella smiled sadly to herself and looked up at Jess, holding her hood in position to stop if from falling from her head. "You don't need to start liking her, Jess. If you did, you would just be another one of those flocks of seagulls that follow her around twenty-four-seven . . . just try not to be so hard on her. Unless you're given reason too."

Jess seemed to accept what Bella was saying, smiling slightly and nodded, just as the two of them approached the double doors that lead into the building where their Biology class was centred. The two of them shrugged off their hoods and brushed the rain-droplets from their faces as soon as they stepped into the confinements of the building. "I hope this means I can't stop making jokes about her silicone boobs."

Bella rolled her eyes, nudged Jess with her elbow. "C'mon, let's get into class before Mr. Banner beats us. You're being my lab partner today."

"Fine. But only because I don't want to be within ten feet of Mike-Sad-Sack-Newton."

***.*.***

**I'm sorry that a few of you think Bella is dumb for telling Jess about Damon but frankly if I were put in the same position, the first thing I would want to do is talk to someone about it—and I'd most likely talk to my best friend, who happens to also be called Jess. It's just the way some people are. It doesn't necessarily make them dumb; it just means they have a different way of handling a situation.**

**Besides, I plan for Jess to become a significant character in Bella's life as the story progresses. You'll see soon enough.**


	53. LIII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

An hour later, the bell sounded for the end of the lesson.

Biology had proven to be uneventful. As decided, Jess joined Bella in her spot at the back of the lab where Bella usually spent the lesson alone without a partner due to the organized seating arrangement by Mr. Banner. However, when Mr. Banner walked into the room and noticed Jess' change of places, he made no reaction. On normal occasions, Mr. Banner would have made a fuss and demanded Jess returned to her assigned place, but both of the teens knew Mr. Banner made no fuss because of Cora's death. Thus, Jess and Bella spent the entirety of the lesson doing their work, silently talking to one another, undisturbed prior to the glances Mike Newton spared their way more then often.

Neither of the teens made any acknowledgement to Mike's glances over his shoulder towards them, until the nearing of the end of the lesson.

It was Jess that spoke up: "Why does he keep looking at us?" Jess hissed under her breath, looking up through her lashes to see Mike's head turned in their direction. Jess' jaw clenched, she tightened the grip on her pencil, and then fixed her attention on the paper beneath her. They were writing down the answers to the questions Mr. Banner had given them subjected on today's lesson's continence.

Bella peaked up at Mike and followed his gaze. When her eyes landed on Jess' lowered head, she smirked, diverting her own eyes down to strain on her work. "I think you'll find he's just looking at you."

Jess' head snapped up at that, her eyes turning in the direction of Mike immediately. Just as Bella had stated, Mike was looking directly at her. And when their eyes awkwardly met, Jess' eyes narrowed into a glare that seemed a mixture of irritation and suspicion. Mike—catching her glare—quickly angled his body forward and returned to his own work, shoulders hunched. Mike's partner, whom happened to be Angela, glanced at him curiously. "Yeah, well, who cares who he's looking at—I wish he'd just stop it. I'm starting to worry that his staring is going to give me HIV."

Bella rolled her eyes and snickered. "You better get yourself tested—just for precautions."

Jess glanced at Bella and smirked.

Bella looked across the room and looked back down again. "Don't look now."

"_Again?_" Jess hissed under her breath, looking down at her paper, gritting her teeth.

"Again." Bella confirmed.

Jess huffed. "What is this guy's problem?" Jess grumbled angrily under her breath. "Is Jennifer's cleavage not as interesting anymore?"

"Mm." Bella replied to Jess, looking slightly thoughtful.

Jess looked up at her best friend. "What?" Bella looked at Jess confused. "Why did you hum? That hum meant something—what did that hum mean?"

Bella shrugged. "Just that . . . Oh, I don't know . . . maybe Mike's concerned about you."

Jess scoffed rather loudly that Ben Cheney glanced up from his work to look at them. "Mike Newton—concerned? Don't make me laugh."

Bella rolled her eyes in reply. "Right, I'm sorry—how stupid of me."

"Apology accepted." Jess sang, happening to glance in Mike's direction. "Oh you've got to be kidding me." She hissed when Mike's eyes had returned to her. "I'm putting an end to this." Jess firmly said. Bella raised her eyebrows and watched as Jess placed her pencil down and shot Mike 'the bird'. Bella clamped a hand to her mouth to hold back her laughter, watching Mike's eyes widen, his cheeks flush, and quickly turn away flustered—he turned away so quickly that half of his body slipped off his lab-stool. If it weren't for Angela quickly grabbing his arm, he probably would have fallen off the stool. "What. An. Idiot." Jess said slowly before picking up her pencil again.

Mike didn't look at Jess again and Bella speculated it was because he was too embarrassed about his small tumble. Ten minutes later the bell had rang and the class began to bustle out of their seats, collecting up their things and moving out of the classroom to head to their last class of the day. Bella and Jess assembled their things, stuffing them into their rucksack, before slinging it over their shoulders and heading out of the classroom with the rest of the students.

They were a good few metres out of the classroom when Bella and Jess heard their names being called. "Bella! Jess!" the two girls turned to see Angela rushing up to them, leaving her boyfriend's side—who was engrossed in a conversation with Eric Yorkie—to talk to them. "Hey," Angela said slightly timidly, pushing her glasses higher onto the bridge of her nose.

"Hey Angela." Bella smiled at Angela kindly.

"I've been meaning to talk to you guys all day." Angela started. "I wanted to see how the both of you were—y'know, with Cora's . . ."-Angela trailed off, looking uncertain whether to continue with the word she was going to say.

"Death?" Jess bluntly supplied for her.

Bella shot Jess a warning look but she ignored her.

Angela nodded.

"We're fine." Jess answered quickly—too quickly. Bella sighed and jumped in: "But thanks for asking, Angela—it means a lot." She said this, glancing at Jess expectantly whilst do so. Jess caught this look and turned back to Angela, nodding solemnly in agreement.

Angela smiled meekly and the three began to walk along the corridor towards the Gym. Angela spoke up after a few moments' pause: "I can't believe it happened. I can't imagine what her husband is going through right now. This has to be the eleventh attack now. Do you think we should start getting worried about this dangerous animal roaming around Forks?" Bella and Jess awkwardly bumped shoulders but neither of them said anything. "My Dad met with Cora's husband this morning—to organize Cora's funeral." Bella struggled to find the words to reply to that statement, finding it hard to move past the image of her husband looking gaunt and distraught talking to Pastor Weber. "I'm sorry; I suppose this is the last thing you want to talk about."

"No, no—its fine, Angela." Bella quickly said. "It's just a little hard to talk about right now. I guess . . ." Bella sighed. "I guess at the moment we're sort of looking for a distraction." Bella confessed.

Angela nodded understandingly. "Well, if you're still interested, you can both come homecoming dress shopping with me tomorrow?"

Jess frowned and opened her mouth to speak; Bella could see that she was about to reject her. Bella quickly nudged Jess discreetly with her elbow. "That sounds exactly what we need. Thanks, Angela."

Angela grinned. "Great. Tomorrow then?"

"Sure."

Bella gave Jess another nudge.

Jess grunted, cupping her arm and forced a smile. "I'll drive us there."

By then, they had reached the changing rooms for the Gym. "Only if that's OK . . ." Jess nodded. Angela smiled and glanced over Jess' shoulder. "I'll meet you guys in the changing rooms—I have to say bye to Ben." Angela stepped back, but then with an afterthought, she said: "Hey—you don't know what's going to happen to cheer practice now what with what's happening to Lauren?"

Bella and Jess looked at each-other.

"What's happened to Lauren?" Jess asked, curiously.

Angela shuffled from side to side awkwardly. "Well, I don't know if this is true—I _did_ hear it from Jennifer Ford but . . ."-Angela shuffled closer to the girls to speak quietly to both of them-"Rumour is that Lauren didn't take what happened well—word has it Lauren's going to be AWOL for the next two or three weeks . . . maybe even a month. Poor Lauren, right?" Angela stepped back. "There's Ben. I'll see you two inside." With that, Angela gave Jess and Bella a tiny wave before disappearing to say goodbye to Ben.

"Poor Lauren indeed." Jess solemnly answered gruffly to herself before turning and walking through the door leading into the girl's changing rooms.

The two girls changed wordlessly after that—too lost in their own thoughts with the new recollection Angela had given them. They shrugged on their Gym uniforms, slipped on their sneakers, and headed out into the corridor where—as usual—Coach Clapp was ticking off names from the list with each person that stepped out of the locker room. And as usual, Bella and Jess seemed to be the last people to step out of the classroom. But not like usual, Coach Clapp said nothing on the matter.

"Miss. Stanley, Miss. Swan . . ." Coach Clapp lowly said, ticking off their names, eyes on the page. Jess and Bella headed in the direction to where the other girls were waiting outside the building, at the gymnasium's entrance. Apparently Coach Clapp had learnt from the last lesson and decided to do the class inside this time—most likely with the rest of the guys. "Girls—wait there. I need to speak to you."

Bella and Jess shared a dreaded look. _Here we go again . . ._ they both groaned inwardly, turning to the coach, who was stepping towards them, tucking his clipboard under his arm.

"In light of what happened to Miss. Mallory last night, the school has been informed that Miss. Mallory will be taking a leave of absence for a short period of time."-_So Jennifer Ford was actually telling the truth . . . for once-_"And as we know, the last football game of the year is in less than two weeks' time, and we need our cheer squad. But we have no cheer squad when there is no cheer captain."-

Jess had to mentally stop her jaw from dropping. "Are you about to say what I think you're about to say?"

Coach Clapp held up a irritated hand of silence. "Please let me finish, Miss. Stanley." He retorted. "As I was saying . . . I was informed that the both of you have some dance history"-Coach Clapp was referring to the ballet classes that Bella and Jess had first met and also the lessons Bella continued up to when they started junior high. Bella decided to stop attending but Jess still carried on to this day, along with attending jazz and modern dance classes-"And although Jess is more dance-experienced, myself and the teaching faculty, both decided the cheer squad would be in more safer hands with the both of you leading it—as co-captains."

Bella couldn't stop her jaw from dropping this time.

"_Fuck me._" Jess spluttered, incapable of stopping herself before the words slipped from her mouth.

_Fuck me_ was about accurate right now.


	54. LIV

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"This has to be a joke."

"Agreed. Why would they choose _us_ of all people to be co-captains of a cheer squad?"

"It's crazy."

"No-one is going to take us seriously."

"Maybe they will if we stuff our bras with silicone pads."

"_No_ Jess."

"Fine. I guess tissue will do just the same. It might be a bit scratchy though."

"You're not taking this in the least bit seriously, are you?"

"How can you say that, of course I am!"

…

"I don't think they're even coming." Bella exhaled heavily, dropping her arms heavily at her side, turning her eyes away from the gym doors to look at Jess. "They probably heard Lauren wasn't coming back and assumed cheer practice was cancelled." Bella huffed. "Maybe we should call it quits—start fresh on Monday and spread the word what Coach Clapp has told us. As long as the weekend hasn't made us see sense and we haven't gone to Coach Clapp to plead for freedom." Bella grumbled, starting to head over to where their gym bags were situated across the gymnasium where the bleachers were.

Just then the sound of the gym door opening echoed loudly throughout the Gym followed by the echoing sounds of footsteps moving into the room. Bella and Jess turned towards the sound of the new presence to see Jennifer Ford walking into the room, flocked by several other girls donned in cheer uniforms. Jennifer eyed Bella and Jess in the centre of the room, then the matts the two teens had placed out, before smirking and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Y'see girls—cheer practice is cancelled." Jennifer told the several girls following her and then whipped her head in Jess' and Bella's direction, the hair of her ponytail swinging from side to side with the movement. "Didn't you two get the memo? Lauren's not here. And that's the way it'll be for the next month." Jennifer looked back down at the matts placed across the floor and smirked wider. "You even got out the equipment ready. How cute—and sad. Well, you should probably put it back again." Jennifer waved her hand at the two teens.

A few girls behind her giggled and snickered under their breaths.

Obviously Jennifer felt it was upon herself to take the role of Class-A Bitch with Lauren away.

"Cheer practice isn't cancelled." Jess seethed, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring straight at Jennifer.

Jennifer clucked her tongue. "Says who?"

Jess smirked. "_Us._" Jess waved a finger between her and Bella.

Jennifer narrowed her eyes. "You?" Jennifer retorted, spitting it out. "Are you deaf? Lauren isn't here. We can't practice without a cheer captain!"

Bella chuckled humourlessly, moving forward until she was standing beside Jessica. "Lucky thing that the cheer captain replacements are here then."

Jennifer looked between the two girls, her mouth opening ajar, and her eyes widening in shock.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Jennifer shrieked. "Coach Clapp made _you _two captains?"

"Meet your new co-captains for the next month." Jess grinned widely. "I'd get the rest of the squad here if I were you or else you'll find yourself bunked to the bottom of the pyramid." Jess crossed her arms, winking at Bella, before turning back to Jennifer whom was beginning to resemble a gold-fish the way her mouth opened and closed in shock.

"She's being serious, you know." Bella stated matter-of-factly. "The same goes for the rest of you if you so much make a _whisper _of complaint." the girls flocking Jennifer shuffled awkwardly, looking between each other, not knowing what to say or do. "_Well_?" Bella prompted. "Are you going to contact the rest of the squad or not? We have a routine to practice."

"Time is of the essence girls—chop, chop!" Jess clapped.

Jennifer snarled before pulling her cell from her pocket, beginning to furiously tap on her cell whilst the other girls followed suit.

When all eyes were turned from Bella and Jess, Bella turned to Jess grinning mischievously. Jess gleamed, holding out a hand. The two girls shared a brief and discreet high-five before turning back to the group of girls, crossing their arms over their chest, suddenly feeling a lot more hopeful about their new positions as co-captain.

Ten minutes the rest of the cheer squad had moved into the gymnasium and [surprisingly] things began to flow easily. Apparently the girls had warned the rest of the group that if they were to complain, there would be consequences, because no-one made any reaction over Bella and Jess commanding the group. Jess and Bella organized the girls into place. Jess walked through the routine as Bella sorted out the stereo across the gymnasium, slipping in the CD holding the collection of songs that Lauren had stifled onto the CD for routine tracks.

Within minutes, _I Got a Feeling _by Black Eyed Peas was playing throughout the gymnasium. Jess and Bella were standing at the front of the group, nodding their heads and tapping their toes, watching the group move in sync to the music. It was strange, standing at the front, rather being nestled in the group dancing to the shrill sounds of Lauren's incessant counting to the beat. It was strange but strangely empowering. Bella never would have thought she would have been standing here—in front of the group, as co-captain (even if it was temporarily). She wondered, passively, what her Mom would have said about it. Dad always told her how she was cheer captain. Would she have been proud?

Bella shook her head and brought herself back into reality.

"_Tonight's the night/let's live it up/I got my money/Let's spend it all/Go out and smash it/ like Oh My God/Jump off that sofa/ Let's get get OFF."_

Across the room, Katie Marshall caught her eye. She watched the way that she bit her lip and nervously moved through each step of the routine. The way she acted it was like every step she took, she worried that the ground she stepped upon would blow-up like it had a mine-field underneath. Bella knew this was all because of Lauren and the way she handled Katie's cheerleading skill. Bella sighed, suddenly feeling bad for the girl that seemed to be lacking in confidence.

"Good job Katie!" Katie almost stumbled in her step in shock. Her head snapped up and she looked at Bella, eyes wide. "Nice footwork. Just relax—you've got it." and then, a rare smile was seen across Katie's face. Bella smiled to herself when she watched Katie relax ever so slightly and began to fall back in sync with the rest of the girls, a skip in her step and a smile plastered on her face. However, while one person was happy about Bella's compliment, another was unhappy; Jess saw across the crowd of people the way that Jennifer's eyes glared at Bella.

For the rest of the routine, Jess kept an eye out on Jennifer.

Jennifer didn't seem to make any movements of protesting or making a complaint for most of the practice. It was heading on towards the end of the session when it happened. They had moved on from running through the routine and were practicing the most important part of the routine: the lifts. The girls had sectioned off into threes and were practicing the extension prep lift. Jess and Bella were moving around the groups, helping the ones that needed helping.

"Excuse me, Bella." Jennifer grasped Bella's attention. Jess and Bella's eyes drifted over to where Jennifer had called for her. "I don't think Hannah is getting it right"-Jennifer nodded towards the smaller girl whom Bella had previously seen to be struggling to grasp balance in the air. Jennifer and Jennifer's friend were the ones that had been holding Hannah up in the air-"Do you think you could show Hannah how it's done?"

Jess moved to step in. "I don't think so."

Bella narrowed her eyes on Jennifer suspiciously. Jennifer looked at Jess—acknowledging her glare—and turned back to Bella. "Please Bella—Hannah is really struggling. We've been trying to teach her but she isn't getting it right. Isn't that right Hannah?"

Hannah nodded.

Bella sighed. "OK—fine."

"Bella . . ."-Jess started, but Bella didn't hear her.

Bella had headed over to where the three girls were situated on the mat. "Watch carefully, Hannah." Bella said to the smaller girl. Hannah nodded again and Bella turned to Jennifer and her friend. "You two ready?" Jennifer and her friend nodded, getting into squatting position. Bella sucked in a breath and effortlessly moved. Jennifer and her friend grasped her feet, heaving her up into the air. Bella trembled slightly before securing balance in the air. "OK, Hannah—you see how I got up there?" Hannah nodded again, stepping backwards. "Good. So to keep balanced you need to . . ."-the rest of the words left Bella's mouth. One minute her left foot was being balanced by Jennifer's hands, the next minute her left foot was falling into air.

A scream managed to leave Bella's move as she felt herself falling to the ground, side first.

"_Bella!_" she vaguely heard Jess' scream across the room.

The next thing Bella knew she was colliding with the mat, her hand reaching out to brace the fall. Followed by a deafening crack echoed throughout the room and pain emanated from Bella's wrist.

"_Oops_ . . . my hand must have slipped." It was Jennifer that said that.

…

Jennifer.

Of course.

_Bella—you are such an idiot._

***.*.***

**Bella being ever the klutz.**

**Hope none of you are suffering Damon Salvatore withdrawal symptoms. Never fear, Damon will be in the next chapter. The next few chapters will involve Bella and Damon going to the hospital. There both Damon and Bella will have a surprise meeting with someone from their past. **_**And **_** also some eye-opening awakenings for Bella and Jess' behalf.**


	55. LV

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Well that was a great first session as co-captain." Bella snorted sarcastically, wincing as Mrs. Hammond placed an icepack on her wrist. Jess was placed at the end of the bed, watching Mrs. Hammond place on the ice-pack, though she looked as if she was far away. Bella hissed as Mrs. Hammond instructed her to hold it there with her other hand—she complied. "It's broken isn't it? It feels exactly the same when I broke my leg five years ago." Bella grumbled, looking down at the icepack she held to her wrist, grimacing.

Mrs. Hammond exhaled, writing on the paper with a pen. "I'm afraid so." Mrs. Hammond glumly replied. "Well, look at it this way; two injuries in the space of two days—this has to be a personal record, Miss. Swan." Mrs. Hammond retorted, somewhat sarcastically, looking at her over her spectacles. Bella groaned in embarrassment, letting go of her icepack to cover her face in shame. "Keep hold of the icepack Miss. Swan!" Mrs. Hammond barked. Bella jumped and quickly replaced the hand over the icepack, wincing when she clutched it too hard. "Wait here, while I go call your father." and then Mrs. Hammond was out the door.

Jess snickered, apparently back in reality. "I think she's forgetting about the time you slipped on a patch of ice in the morning and then fainted during the blood-type experiment in Biology last year."

Bella shot Jess a glare. "Oh look whose finally chose to join us again." Bella snapped.

Jess shrugged. "I was fantasying about Jennifer's face when Coach Clapp kicks her off the team."

"So you're definitely going to get her kicked off then?" Bella grumbled.

"Of course!" Jess retorted, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She blatantly made you fall, Bella—there was no accident about it! I'm going to get her kicked off the team and then some." Jess stated angrily. "That bitch stepped over the line and I'll be damned if I let her get away with this scott-free."

Bella sighed. "It's not just her fault—it's my fault too; I should have known Jennifer would pull a stunt like that."

"Yes, I suppose." Jess agreed, shrugging. "But you were also trying to help—which is technically your job as co-captain." Jess ran a stressed hand through her ferocious curls. "I can't believe I'm saying this but . . . I think I actually miss Lauren Mallory." Jess shook her head in disbelief—incredulous about her own confession.

Bella inhaled steadily to herself, her face twitching when she repositioned the ice-pack on her wrist. "Look on the bright side; we'll only be co-captains for a month. That month will sail by and before we know it, Lauren will be back and causing havoc." Bella said, attempting to lighten the subject, though inwardly even she was dreading the next month to come as co-captains—especially the way that their first practice as co-captains ended. She didn't know how she was going to face the rest of the cheer squad at Monday practice.

"That's if Lauren even wants back on the team." Jess deadpanned. Jess huffed and flailed her hand around for empathise; "You even said it yourself that what Lauren's been through she'll probably never be the same again. What if she's changed so much that she doesn't want to be cheer captain anymore? We'll be stuck as co-captains right the way to Regionals! Oh _God_ Regionals!" Jess groaned together, face-planting into her hands. Regionals were a-part of the cheer-squad competition and the semi-finals of the international competition. Forks High's cheer squad entered every year but never got past Regionals. Sectionals was up in almost two months' time and Bella doubted if Lauren wasn't going to return to her usual position in time, they wouldn't even be making it past Sectionals.

"Don't worry," Jess pulled her head a fraction away from her hands to glare at Bella. "We'll just have to start thinking up a routine for Sectionals—just in case Lauren doesn't come back, which I highly doubt. Lauren loves being cheer captain; I don't think that has changed." Bella attempted to reassure but from the looks of Jess' face, this reassurance wasn't getting anywhere. "We should probably concentrate on acing the football game's routine though."

Jess groaned again. "Which is going to be a disaster! Now Jennifer will be off the team and you're—well—like you are, we'll be two cheerleaders down!"

Bella looked down at her wrist and chewed her bottom lip. She hadn't thought of this until now. There was no doubt that her wrist was broken—everyone in the gym had heard the deafening crack of her wrist snapping when Jennifer dropped her to the ground. "Maybe I'll be able to just do the floor routine. I just won't be able to do lifts, that's all."

"_That's all?_" Jess retorted, a frustrated look in her eyes. "Bella, Lauren's routine entails that every cheerleader does one lift! We'll have to change the whole routine for this."

Bella knew that too. "It won't be too bad; maybe me, Hannah and Katie can stand offline while the rest of do the lifts—Hannah and Katie were struggling with the lifts anyway."

Jess snorted. "Are you sure about that? Are you sure that Hannah wasn't just pressured by Jennifer to say she was struggling so Jennifer could try to send some kind of twisted, sadistic message to us?"

"No." Bella shook her head firmly. "Hannah wouldn't do that; she's nice."

"Just because she's nice doesn't mean she's incapable to being pressured by Jennifer Ford. Jennifer can be pretty manipulative when she wants to be."

Bella sighed heavily. "I know that—but I refuse to believe Hannah has anything to do with this."

Jess opened her mouth to reply; however the words were lost at the back of her throat, for she was interrupted by the sound of the door swinging opening and Mrs. Hammond shuffling back into the nurse's office. "Miss. Swan, unfortunately we were unable to get in contact with your father—we assume his phone has been switched off." Bella refrained a sigh; the last thing she wanted to do was worry her Dad—especially at a time like this. No doubt Dad wasn't able to pick up his phone from being swamped with work concerning Cora. "_Fortunately_ someone was at home to pick up our call."

_Oh no._

Bella watched as Mrs. Hammond moved out the way of the door and another person moved into the room. Damon Salvatore in all his glory strode into the room, donned in black from head-to-toe, with the trademark smile etched across his devilishly handsome face. "Did someone call for the Salvatore cab service?" Damon's smirking face moved around the room and landed on Bella, perched on the bed, clutching her wrist. Damon's smirk faltered when he noticed her white face, shaken appearance and the apparent injured hand she was clutching the ice-pack to. "What happened?"

"Jennifer Ford happened. Why are _you_ here?" Jess answered, standing to her feet, eyes narrowed on the raven-haired man—or whatever he was.

Damon narrowed his eyes back at the curly-haired teen. "To collect Bella. Is that not obvious?"

Jess pursed her lips and turned to look at Mrs. Hammond. "Why didn't you call my father? He's Bella's emergency guardian if you're unable to get through to the Chief."

Bella's eyes flickered between Jess, Mrs. Hammond and finally Damon. She swallowed and pushed back the heat threatening to rise at her cheeks when she saw Damon was looking at her. She did not like the way he was looking at her. His lips were frowning; his face was cold and stiff, while his eyes were burning with . . . anger? Bella gulped. Was he angry about what had happened this morning? Or the way Jess was acting hostile towards him. Did he suss that Jess knew something? Bella dreaded either scenario.

"Jess," Bella finally butted in. Jess looked at her immediately. "It's fine. Damon will take me to the hospital." Bella's eyes desperately looked into Jess'—telling her to go with it, accept it, and not make a scene—before looking at Damon. "Right?" she looked at Damon hopefully.

Damon merely stiffly nodded in agreement.

"Fine." Jess crossed her arms stiffly over her chest. "Then I'll go with you." Jess glared at Damon stubbornly, a slight smirk on her lips.

"Jess . . ."-Bella started.

"I don't think so." Damon gave her an annoyed look. "Your monstrous hair will block up my back-rear view."

Jess uncrossed her arms, one of her arms dropping to her side and the other perching at her waist. "Ex_cuse_ me?"

Bella groaned and stood to her feet. "Right. That's sorted. Damon is taking me to the hospital—and Jess is coming with us. Are we going then?" Bella had never thought she would be so eager to get to the freakin' hospital. No time like a first for something, Bella supposes. Jess and Damon both look at Bella, looking very unhappy but seemed to comply—it may had been something to do with the fact Mrs. Hammond was looking between them like she was watching some sort of reality show fresh off the TV or Bella's demanding, fiery look that was demanding them to do as she said.

Bella breathed in a sigh when both of them nodded. "Let's go then."

Jess collected her things as Bella turned to hers—struggling blatantly with the injured hand and the icepack Jess and Damon both moved forward to help her. "I've got it Frankenstein." Jess hissed when both of them grasped hold of the bag at Bella's feet.

"I think you'll find it's Frankenstein's Monster." Damon clucked his tongue, straightening his back, smirking. "But go ahead—take it. I'll help Bella here." Damon smirked, gesturing with his hand for Jess to move out of the door. Jess huffed and slowly walked out of the door, casting a breezy look to Bella on her way out that told Bella that Jess was not happy with this whatsoever. "C'mon sweetheart." Bella looked up when she felt Damon's arm wrap itself around her shoulder and gently push her out of the tine nurse's office, leaving a gawking Mrs. Hammond behind them.

As soon as the door shut and it was just the two of them—Jess was a little way away, close enough to see them but not close enough to hear them—Damon's face became within inches of hers. "_We need to talk._" Damon seethed.

_Oh _crap._ He knew didn't he?_


	56. LVI

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

Bella had never been more relieved to see the Forks Memorial Hospital peel into view as they turned into the parking lot in Damon's Mustang. After what felt like an hour drive filled with tense, awkward silences and glares shooting between Jess and Damon—though Jess seemed to be doing most of the glaring on both of their behalves; where she was placed in the backseat behind Bella, arms crossed and glaring at him through the driver's mirror, of which Damon would return the glares through on more than one occasion.

Bella sighed under her breath as Damon's Mustang skidded into a parking space, jolting slightly forward at the harshness of the halting stop. She glanced sideways at Damon and forced back the nerves bubbling in her stomach. Remembering what Damon had last said to her, Bella was a bundle of nerves. The possibility that Damon knew Jess knew was probable and there was an even higher probability that something bad was going to happen from whatever Damon had to talk to her about.

"I'll take Bella from here then shall I?" Jess' voice perked up from the backseat as she unbuckled herself from the backseat, a hand placed on Bella's shoulder. "I'm sure you have a lot of animal patrol business to attend to—you wouldn't want to be doing something as time-consuming as waiting in an ER. Right?" I think even a blind person could see the newfound dislike Jess had for Damon at this present moment in time. And frankly it put Bella on edge; Jess could at least have the decency of keeping her hostility to the down low.

Damon narrowed his eyes on Jess. His scrutinising glaze was enough to make Jess shudder and Bella freeze as his mouth opened to say something. "You don't like me very much, do you?"-Damon stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world—which it was-"Interesting; your father seems to have a similar opinion of me. It makes me wonder what kind of things he has raved about me to his home-life—all good, I suspect."

"Actually he thinks you're a bit of an ass." Jess replied in a snarky tone of voice. "And I can't help but agree." Jess clucked her tongue, stating in a matter-of-fact voice. "Come on, Bella; the sooner we get you checked out the less you'll be sitting in agony." Jess muttered, giving Bella a quick squeeze on the shoulder, before slipping out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her.

Bella obeyed, moving to unclick her seatbelt with her good hand with struggle, but Damon beat her to it. "Thanks." Bella muttered, looking up at him through her lashes.

He nodded curtly, watching as she unwrapped the seatbelt from around her with a frown on his face. His eyes flickered over her head and rolled his eyes—if Bella were to have turned around she would have seen the way Jess flagged her middle-finger up at the raven-haired man. "You're best friend is a bit of a bitch—actually, not even a bit of one. She's probably the biggest bitch I've seen in a long-shot—and that's saying a lot; I've seen a lot of bitches in my time . . ."-

"Don't you dare call her that." Bella snapped angrily. "Jess is not a bitch. She just cares."_ Something you lack obviously._ Not once had the Damon asked her how she was. Bella inwardly shook her head—_since when had she become so pathetic and needy for Damon's concern_? Damn that perfect, mind-boggling kiss."Thanks for the ride." Bella muttered, turning to reach for the door. Damon caught her uninjured hand, pulling her attention back to her.

His eyes of ice were burning with some emotion that Bella couldn't quite signify—nonetheless it was beautiful and compelling. Sometimes Bella hated how captivating his eyes were; they called to her like a moth to a light. "How's your wrist?"

Bella almost fell into a blubbering mess right then. She thought maybe it was because she was still in shock from the fall, that her emotions were all over the place, but that question—that raise of concern—meant more to her than she would ever realize. Why, she did not know, and she doubt she would for a long while. "Erm, y-yeah i-its fine—I g-guess." The drive over from school seemed to be a strong enough distraction because frankly, Bella hadn't even noticed it until now. "Actually, it's a lot more bareable."

"Good." Damon murmured. "Listen,"- however, whatever Damon was about to say, was never said for the sound of banging on Bella's door awakened them from their strange bubble they were in. Bella glanced over her shoulder to see Jess waving her hand. She looked irritated but Bella could see she was concerned in her eyes. "_Ever the cockblocker._"

"What?" Bella could have sworn she heard Damon say something along those lines, but it appeared she had been mistaken. "Look—I know we have to talk,"-butterflies attacked her stomach at the thought-"But why don't you save it 'til tonight? You can sneak into my room after Dad's gone to bed."

Damon smirked. "You make it sound so naughty."

Bella rolled her eyes and forced herself not to smile—maybe things between them weren't so nuclear anymore. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the ride, pervert." And then Bella pulled herself out of the car to the sound of Damon's chuckling.

"That was a long goodbye." Jess stated, through narrowed eyes. They were now walking in the direction of the ER entrance. Bella was dreading this; she knew Jess would pick up on it. "You have feelings for him, _don't you_?"

Bella inhaled sharply. "I don't know." Bella looked at Jess, answering truthfully.

Jess shook her head. "This is bad news, Bee." Bella turned her head. Of course Jess would see the wrong in it. Sometimes Jess was too maternal and protecting for her own good—especially their friendship's own good. But then Bella felt Jess' elbow nudge her forearm, causing Bella to look back. Jess looked somewhat apologetic: "Hey—thanks for telling me . . . y'know—everything. We'll figure everything out . . . together." Bella smiled feebly up at her best friend. Neither of them had noticed that they had stopped half-way across the parking lot, metres away from the ambulance bay. Jess looked down at Bella's injured hand. "C'mon, let's get this wrist checked out."

The two teens resumed walking to the ER, neither of them noticing the ice-blue eyes watching them from the Mustang.

***.*.***

**I love caring Damon the most.**

**Bella's starting to feel confusing things for Damon—but then again, when hasn't she felt confusing things for Damon? It's only now she's beginning to notice it!**

**Damon will be re-returning again. And when he does, he'll be having an interesting encounter with a long lost acquaintance. Yep . . . I'm introducing a new character. You guys may not be happy about it but I can 100% reassure you that it is NOT Edward. Lol.**

**P.S. Jess will separate from Bella at some point in the hospital and make a discovery of her own! Detective Bella and Jess will be making their appearance as of now for the next few chapters! It'll be our very own version of the Winchester brothers… **


	57. LVII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

It turned out when Bella and Jess stepped foot into the ER that there would be a lot of waiting. From what Bella and Jess had both caught on there had been a car crash on one of the motorways just a little way out of Forks. Thus, Bella and Jess were lead to the waiting rooms by an elderly nurse, where they would await until a doctor found time out of treating the more severe patients to see her. Placed on the torn tweed-covered chairs, Bella clutching her wrist numbly, they waited in silence—both of them seemingly lost in their own thoughts. From the way Jess' foot tapped upon the linoleum floor, Bella could see she was obviously contemplating about how fast a doctor would come to attend to her. Jess had never been a patient person.

Whereas Bella—Jess would like to joke—was the epitome of patience and calmly sat upon the uncomfortable waiting-room chairs, calmly staring straight ahead—occasionally, turning her head to watch a nurse rush by in scrubs. In this time of silenced waiting, Bella took her time to think about everything that had happened in the past few hours. Today had definitely not turned out quite so great—but be that as it may, it had formed some kind of distraction for her, which had been the purpose of attending high school today. It was just a little unfortunate she had to be dropped intentionally from a cheer stunt to create this distraction.

Looking down at her wrist, her teeth involuntarily—succumbing to a force of habit—sunk into her bottom lip as she thought of what would come of the state her wrist is now in for the cheer squad. The pain was barely noticeable now—in fact the wrist felt almost numb and _tingly_. It was strange but Bella guessed that it had something to do with the shock that still may be nestled in her. Regardless, it was still broken—_that_ was obvious—and that sequentially meant that Bella, as a co-cheer captain, was ruined. She will definitely not be able to participate in Sectionals now—with no thanks to Jennifer.

She inwardly sighed. As time wore on, she was slowly becoming thankful that Jennifer would most likely find herself off the team. She was obviously a liability and a bitch with serious mental issues—again, _that_ was obvious. She would be glad to see Jennifer off the team when it happened, and she guessed by the will of her best friend, that would happen. However, she was carious to how Jennifer would react. Surely if she was capable of breaking Bella's wrist from simply being co-cheer captains, what would she do now she was no longer a cheerleader? What if it was Jess she targeted next?

Bella flinched at the thought of Jess being a victim of Jennifer's sadistic revenges.

Beside her, Jess caught the flinch from the corner of her eye. "What?" Jess demanded, angling her body towards her. "Is the pain from your wrist getting worse?"-and before Bella could even answer no, Jess was up off her chair and sauntering towards the nurse's station, addressing a grey-haired nurse. "Excuse me,"-the nurse looked up-"Is there any chance you could get my friend to see a doctor soon?"

"I'm sorry Miss, but that's impossible—you'll just have to rest with everyone else." The nurse said slowly, the apologetic-tone lacking in her voice.

Bella heard Jess huff from where she was sitting and winced; she didn't want Jess starting something over nothing. "But she's in pain . . ."-

"There is nothing that can be done—not until Dr. Hale has finished attending to all his patients before you."

Jess' foot stomped on the ground. "Well, then, what about Dr. Snow or Dr. Gerandy?"

"Dr. Snow has been on vacation for the past week and as for Dr. Gerandy, he is busy aiding the other wards. Dr. Hale is the only doctor that can see your friend, but unfortunately you'll have to wait for him to do so." The nurse was obviously getting aggravated with Jess' pestering's.

Jess huffed again at the nurses' words, turning on the spot, and dragging herself back to where she had been sitting. She knew herself down onto the car, sighing exasperatedly. "This is stupid." Jess huffed. "Can't she see you're in pain?" Jess gestured to Bella's limp wrist with her hand.

Bella sighed softly and said gently: "It's fine Jess. There are people that need doctor's care more urgently than me. And besides, the pain is barely there anymore."

Jess rolled her eyes. "You're lying." Actually, Bella wasn't lying—the pain _was_ barely there. In the time Bella had seated herself down in the waiting room, Bella had felt nothing—not an ounce of pain from her wrist. "Look, I'm going to the bathroom. You think you'll be OK? Do you want something from the vending machines or something?" Bella shook her head and told Jess to go. Jess sighed, standing to her feet. "See you in a few. I'll call Dad while I'm here—he's probably freaking out right now because I'm not home. You should try and get through to your Dad too." Bella nodded and watched Jess walk in the direction of the bathrooms.

Bella sighed when Jess disappeared, lulled her head back until it collided with the wall behind her, and fluttered her eyes closed. She had closed her eyes for what felt like barely a second when she heard a voice. "Wow; how did you get Little Miss Sunshine to detach herself from your hip?" Bella's eyes snapped open and looked at the face of the voice.

"Damon." Bella said, confused. "I thought you left." Yet there he was, standing a few feet from her, holding a brown paper bag in his hand and a plastic cup of coffee. Bella's eyes followed him as he advanced towards her and sat down on the seat which Jess had previously occupied, heaving himself down with a 'thump' and a heavy sigh. Bella waited for his answer, but his reply was not what she expected.

"Here." was all he said, passing the paper bag and coffee cup. Bella raised a brow, took the paper bag with her good hand and peaked inside. "A donut?" Bella looked up at Damon. "You bought me a donut?"

"And coffee." Damon gestured to the cup. "But judging on the fact you only have one good hand, I'll hold onto this." He winked at her, leisurely taking a sip from it.

"But why?" Bella questioned. Damon merely answered with a shrug, taking another sip from the coffee. Bella bit down on her lip, ducking her head slightly, and looked up at Damon through her leathery lashes. "Thanks." Bella murmured. Damon merely looked at her through those compelling blue eyes of her that made heat creep up from her chest, to her neck—heading towards her cheeks. She turned her head, letting her hair billow around her, and pulled the donut from her hand. Using her one good hand, she broke the donut in half and held one half out for Damon to take. "Here—have some."

Damon rolled his eyes. "No. I bought it for you." Bella looked down at the half of the donut in her hand. "Just eat it Bella."

So she did—mainly because she didn't like the frustrated tone of voice he captured as he spoke. She pulled the donut to her hand and took a bite. It was delicious. "Thanks." She said again, after she swallowed down the delicious bite of donut. There was a moment of silence between the two of them: "So . . . why did you come back? Why didn't you go back to the station?"

Damon shrugged again—and something told Bella he was trying to make himself seem more aloof than he really was. "Things at the station is slow—it's all paper work and filing; that's not my thing." Damon adjusted himself in the seat. "And besides, you were hurt—it didn't feel right leaving you here, especially with your nutcase of a friend." Damon clucked his tongue on the roof of his mouth.

Bella sighed exasperatedly. "She's not that bad you know—if you got to know her, you'll realise why she's my best friend."

"Something tells me she wouldn't let me get to know her, even if I tried." Damon retorted lazily, seeming to have little interest in the subject of getting to know Jess. It frustrated Bella—just like it frustrated Bella that, for some reason, she cared about why Jess and Damon had some sort of immediate dislike for each other. Bella was beginning hate these confusing emotions. She just wanted a break from it.

"Why is it that, when I turn my back for one minute, you're already sliming up to her?" Jess' voice alerted her return from the bathroom. Her hands were on her hips and her eyes were narrowed on Damon. Damon merely smirked and shrugged for the thrice time. "Why are you here? I thought we were rid of you."

"_Jess_ . . ." Bella slowly said with warning.

Jess crossed her arms over her chest, her glare never wavering. She didn't even acknowledge Bella saying her name. "Leave." She demanded of Damon.

Damon stretched his legs out on the floor in-front of him and placed his arms behind his head. "No."

"Bella doesn't want you here."

Bella groaned.

"You and I both know that's not true."

"How do you even walk into rooms with that massive egotistical head of yours?"

"_Easily._"

Bella closed her eyes, covering them with her hand.

Jess opened her mouth to speak, but another voice appeared. It was male, cool, gentle and song-like. "Is everything OK here?" Bella opened her eyes and she, Damon and Jess turned to look at the source of the voice. Bella felt herself involuntarily taking in a sharp intake of breath when she saw him. Beside her, she vaguely felt Damon stiffen beside her and Jess also take a sharp intake of breath, but Bella was too preoccupied with the man standing a few feet from her.

He was beautiful—inhumanly beautiful—with curly honey-blonde hair and the strangest colour of eyes that looked almost _golden_. But that wasn't what made her gasp—upon his white skin that resembled the colour of snow, there were pale grey scares marring every inch of his skin. They were everywhere—even on his face—but what was most disturbing was that they looked like _bite marks._

Bella's eyes trailed downwards and caught sight of the name-tag attached to his scrubs. _Doctor Hale._

So this was the mysterious Doctor Hale.

***.*.***

**Apologies for the late update. Preporations for and doing exams has been crazy but good news—after June 7****th**** I will be exam free! I will be free to update whenever! Woohoo!**


	58. LVIII

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

***.*.***

**The Bloody Dilemma**

***.*.***

"Everything is quite alright, Dr. _Hale_." Damon answered in a drawled, sarcastic tone. _So, that was what he was calling himself now_, Damon thought to himself as he spoke, his blue eyes evaluating the familiar face before him. He was barely able to keep his shock at bay as he looked at _Dr. Hale_ with his very own eyes. Things had certainly changed since he last saw this face and his living status had obviously changed with it. And here he thought he was dead—which he is . . . you know what is meant.

_Dr. Hale_'s eyes turned to look at him. It was freaky seeing the colour of his eyes. Damon never liked his type of vampires. They were so limited; they do not become stronger with age, they always stick out like a sore thumb, and they sparkle like a freakin' fairy in sunlight—need he say anymore? The only truly beneficial thing about being a Cold One is the fact they can require a power upon transformation—and even then the powers are only given to few vampires. In his opinion the Cold Ones are b-o-r-ing. Shame _Dr. Hale _had to be one of them.

Damon watched—with amusement—as Dr. Hale's eyes widened in utter shock. "Fuck me—is that really Damon Fucking Salvatore?" Dr. Hale said, flabbergasted.

Damon crossed his arms over his chest, chuckling to himself. "Watch your language, doc, you don't want your patients thinking you're unprofessional? You _are_ being professional aren't you?" Dr. Hale knew what Damon was implying—_did you feed from the patients_? Damon snickered again when he heard a growl rumbling from his chest. It was too low for a human to hear but what surprised him was that he saw Bella's eyebrows furrow. Did she hear that?

"Inappropriate and a jerk—nothing has changed since we last met, huh?"

"Well, _some_ things have." Damon smirked.

Their reunion was interrupted by Miss Big Mouth here. "So I'm guessing you two know each other." Jess snorted, pointing out the obvious.

"No shit Sherlock." Damon retorted with a snap and turned his attention to Bella. Her eyes were wide and_—fuck—_so beautiful, as she looked between Dr. Hale and Damon, her lips puckered and eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She looked so damn adorable. "Beautiful Bella—meet an old acquaintance of mine: Jasper . . . _Hale_." Damon's lips quirked as he said the surname. Hale wasn't his surname when Damon knew him.

Jasper rolled his freaky gold eyes. "C'mon, Damon, we were more than acquaintances—we were best friends." Jasper smirked and then turned his eyes on Bella. He looked her up and down, which made Damon more uptight than it should have, and reached forward to take her hand. Bella jumped as his cold skin collided with her own warm skin. She watched, stiff, as Jasper bent down and pressed his lips to the back of her hand. "A pleasure, ma'am." Jasper drawled, his southern accent slipping through his mouth. Bella—and even Jess—couldn't stop themselves from shuddering at the tone of his voice.

How could a man be so _beautiful_? That question was directed to Damon as well as Jasper, who was just as—perhaps more so in Bella's eyes—good-looking as Jasper.

"Bella Swan." Bella blushed.

Jasper dropped her hand, straightened himself, and looked down at the brunette with thoughtful eyes. "Swan you say? You must be the daughter of Chief Swan—I spoke to him just hours ago right in this hospital."

Bella's brows furrowed. "Why was my Dad in the hospital?"

"Questioning Miss. Mallory, I believe, after that . . . _animal _attack." Jasper's eyes flickered to Damon's and narrowed. Damon stared at him back, unblinkingly. Did Jasper think _he_ killed these people? Damon snorted. He had more class than that. "He wasn't alone—he was with another detective. They may still be in the hospital—their questioning was cut short. Perhaps you could find your father in the cafeteria . . ."-Jasper's eyes flickered to the chart in his hand and then looked back at her, smiling with dimples that made Bella swallow and Jess' heart do crazy things-". . . after I've fixed you up. It appears you're my next patient on my list."

"Finally." Jess breathed an exasperated sigh of relief.

Jasper and Bella chuckled whilst Damon rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Bella was not looking forward to getting her broken wrist fixed up whilst listening to Damon and Jess bicker amongst one another. Thus, Bella decided one of them would have to go. She wasn't trying to be harsh, but frankly, she was tired—today had been filled with stress—and the last thing she wanted was having to listen to their constant snipes and bickering. Damon was the obvious choice to make leave, but something told her that if she did, he would somehow find his way back into the exam room again and she also didn't want to deal with that either.

"Jess," Bella addressed her best friend. "Why don't you go home?"

Jess blinked. "What? You're finally getting seen!"

"I know but it's getting late and I'm going to be here for another few hours for the X-Ray and casting. So why don't you go home and I'll see you tomorrow for dress shopping with Angela?"

Jess huffed but complied. "OK, fine—you win." Jess shot Damon a glare that told her that she hadn't given up on him. "Just make sure you don't let him give you a lift back, OK? Find your Dad and get a lift home with him." Bella nodded, though really she wanted to roll her eyes. Jess hugged Bella—steering clear of Bella's injured hand—and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Jess shot Damon one last glare and Jasper an awkward smile before walking back down the hallway.

Bella was happy—and surprised—Jess had complied to leave.

"So, Bella, let's get this wrist checked out then. You say it's broken?" Bella nodded. "Well, then, let's have a look. Follow me, Bella."


	59. LIX

**Summary: **Charlie and Liz are good friends, so when Charlie informs Liz of the strange attacks occurring in Forks, Liz sends over one of her best council members to deal with the vampires—Damon Salvatore. Damon goes to Forks after Elena begins her transition. He expects a boring road ahead of him, but soon realizes he was too quick to judge when he meets Chief Swan's daughter, Bella Swan, who has some secrets of her own.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Everything belongs to CW, L. J. Smith, and Stephenie Meyer.

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**The Bloody Dilemma**

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"Here you go—coffee, no milk, with a dash of sugar . . . just the way you always liked it." Charlie turned his eyes to see the aloof eyes of Esme looking at him, a coffee cup extended with her right hand towards him, her own cup clutched to her chest. They were now seated in the hospital's cafeteria after their questioning took a turn for the worst. They had 30 minutes tops before they had to get back to business. "You _still_ like your coffee like that, right?" Esme inquired when Charlie failed to respond. Her head had cocked, one of her eyebrows cocked in inquisition, and her lip slightly curled at the side. Charlie cleared his throat, mumbled a quick "yeah" from the bottom of his throat, and accepted the cup with gratitude. Esme smiled meekly and sat down as soon as the cup had been taken from her hand. As she settled into her seat she said: "You always were a sweet-tooth."

Charlie looked at Esme sceptically. Despite the reminiscing tone she detained, her face somehow managed to remain a void of emotion. She looked stone-faced and ever professional. The questions about what had happened over the past decade were becoming agonising; Charlie wanted to ask _what_ had happened to her—how had she became _this_ person before his eyes—but he couldn't quite muster the courage to ask. Something told him it probably wasn't the question to ask . . . at yeast, not now.

"You remembered?" Charlie asked his voice almost critical, a brow cocked.

Esme chuckled, took a leisurely sip from the steaming cup of coffee in her hands, and answered. "C'mon Charlie, it's been 10 years, not half a century."

Charlie looked away, feeling his jaw tighten and his muscles clench. For a moment he looked out of the window, watching the light pitter-patter of rain fall upon the hospital cafeteria windows, mellowing in his own anger. When he turned back to Esme, a coldness had settled in his brown eyes. "Yeah, well, 10 years is a long time for normal people, Esme." He knew he shouldn't be acting this way—at least not now; he was on duty—he should be professional—but then again, there was nothing professional about having the sister of his diseased wife sitting directly opposite him after being missing for 10 years.

The mannerism on her face that was akin to laughter had dropped from her face and replaced with a scowl. "Don't go there again Charlie. You know I'm here for—"

"'_business and business alone'_, yeah I got the picture Esme." Charlie snapped. There was an elapse of silence as both of them mulled in their own anger. Charlie lifted the coffee cup, took a sip of the mediocre hospital coffee, and swallowed the hot liquid down thickly. He looked back at Esme; she was looking down at her coffee cup, an irritated scowl etched across her face. "What I don't understand . . ."-Charlie paused momentarily, leaning across the table, forcing Esme to look into his eyes. Charlie had always found it strange that Esme, Renée, Chelsea, Heidi and Bella all had (and have) the same coloured eyes. He had always put it down to strong genes. Charlie continued-". . . is why—after all these years—you _never_ bothered to contact us. _Ever_."

Esme's jaw clenched, pulling away from the table at discomfort for Charlie's close proximity, and diverted her eyes away. "It was complicated Charlie."

Charlie didn't think he had ever felt so angry in a long time. "_Complicated_?" Charlie seethed in incredulous disbelief. "Did you have a phone?"

"Yes—"

"Did this phone work?"

"Yes but—"

Charlie interrupted in a steam of anger: "Then how _dare_ you call it _complicated_, Esme. _Ten years. _You didn't bother to contact us for _ten years_. How _dare_ you call it complicated when you had every reason to contact us. Do you have any idea how much I _needed_ you—your support? A damn lot, Esme. My _wife_, _your_ sister, died—just a short time after I lost _two children_. I was a single parent with _no_ help—alone. And Bella? _Bella_ lost her mother. And she also lost her aunt too. Do you have any idea how hard the past ten years have been for us Esme? _Do you_?"

Esme's fingers were gripping into the table fiercely. "You weren't the only one struggling Charlie—I was grieving too!"

"Don't you dare be selfish right now, Esme."

There was an unmistakable fire burning up behind Esme's beautiful brown eyes and frankly it frightened Charlie. Esme's upper lip curled back and she leaned forward to hiss to him. "You have no idea what I have been through over the past ten years, Charlie."

"No, I don't," Charlie coolly replied. "Perhaps I would if you ever bothered to contact me."

"Excuse me, Chief Swan?" a gentle voice came from behind Charlie. Esme's eyes flickered over Charlie's head and Charlie turned around to see Mrs. Mallory a few feet away. Charlie hoped Mrs. Mallory hadn't heard much of their argument, but judging by the way Mrs. Mallory looked sceptically between Esme and him, she knew something was going on between the two of them. "I apologise for the way things ended while you were questioning Lauren." Mrs. Mallory swallowed, obviously attempting to hold back the pent up emotions since her daughter's submission to the hospital. Her pale eyes were filled with worry and concern for Lauren.

Charlie inhaled, pushing down that anger dwelling inside him, and relaxed his face. "There is nothing to apologise for, Mrs. Mallory." Charlie answered, consulting the woman.

"It's obviously a hard time for your daughter right now; she did the best that she could under her circumstances."

Charlie sighed inwardly as he thought back to how things had abruptly ended whilst he and Esme had been questioning Lauren Mallory:

…

_Twenty Minutes Earlier_

Charlie stood in a hospital hallway, outside Miss. Mallory's room with Esme by his side, and opposite him was an inhumanly beautiful honey-blonde haired doctor in scrubs and a white lab coat. He was a doctor, the newest doctor at Forks Memorial, as so he was introduced as by Doctor Gerandy, whom had disappeared from sight to tend over patients moments ago after giving a detailed description of Lauren's situation. Charlie and Esme were waiting patiently for the doctor to reply, Esme's pen poised in her hand, ready to write notes on paper.

"It had been my first day on the job—Miss. Mallory and Mr. Crowley had been my last patients of my shift."-the blonde haired doctor asked-"Neither of them were seriously injured, they had been brought into the ER by the EMTs for shock. Mr. Crowley was the least worse off of the two, thus he was released not long after he was brought here, whereas Miss. Mallory was more . . . traumatised. She was having a series of episodes of panic attacks that eventually she was given morphine and Dr. Gerandy, Mrs. Mallory and I all decided it would be best if Miss. Mallory put under hospital supervision for a short time—and a good thing too, Miss. Mallory's episodes have yet to disappear."

Charlie nodded, glancing at Esme's whose head was down and writing furiously on paper. He couldn't help but notice how stiff Esme appeared to be. Charlie shook it off and turned back to the doctor. "Doctor . . ." Charlie trailed off expectantly.

"Hale. Doctor Hale." Jasper answered.

"Dr. Hale, I want to ask whether Miss. Mallory or Mr. Crowley said anything while you were under their care concerning the death of Cora Smith?"

Dr. Hale's eyebrows furrowed upon this question. "No . . . not that I recall." He answered slowly. Charlie's lips twitched but his face showed no reaction to this, and he opened his mouth to ask a second question, when suddenly a beeping sound interrupted Charlie. Dr. Hale looked down at the beeper clipped to waistband of his scrub pants and looked up at Charlie apologetic. "I'm sorry, I'll have to answer any more questions you have another time, it appears there has been a car crush off the highway."

Charlie shook his head. "No need, I think you have answered the questions we needed, but we'll get in touch if there is anything else we need."

Dr. Hale nodded wordlessly, muttered his goodbye to the two officers, and then was rushing down the hallway in a quick speed in the direction of the ER. There was a moment silence, as Charlie watched the new doctor rush off until he had completely disappeared. He turned to Esme, who had been strangely quiet and narrowed his eyes. "You okay?" he awkwardly asked.

However Esme didn't answer, she was too busy looking at the spot where the new doctor had disappeared. "How long has he been new in town?"

"I don't know—that'll have to be something you'll have to ask Doctor Gerandy, as he was the one who hired him, but I can presume a two weeks at the most. It's strange—it's not every day that someone moves to Forks . . . Wait." Charlie paused, his eyes narrowing further. "You think he may have something to do with Cora's murder?" Esme was silent. "But I thought it was a _you-know-what_ . . ." Esme remained silent. Charlie sighed. "You're accusing a _doctor_ of being a va—_you-know-what_?" Charlie huffed. No reply from Esme. "You're crazy. And impossible. The guy works in a place _filled_ with blood for Christ's sakes. He wouldn't be able to finish surgery without . . ." Charlie came to an abrupt halt, suddenly looking slightly paler. When he turned to look at Esme, she was looking at him with a cocked brow. "You're wrong." Charlie firmly said.

Esme gritted her teeth.

"C'mon," Charlie mumbled. "Let's question Miss. Mallory."

"Chief Swan!" Mrs. Mallory jumped to her feet as soon as Charlie and Esme walked through the door. She had been sitting at Lauren's bedside. Lauren, whose head had been angled away from her mother and staring absentmindedly out of the window, rolled her head to look at the newcomers. Her face looked solemn and very pale. "Erm, I had no idea you would be coming today, though I presumed you would at some point . . ." Mrs. Mallory rattled, flustered, as she attempted to straighten her clothes.

Esme's lips twitched downwards and spoke up: "Apologies Mrs. Mallory, but we are here to question your daughter."

Mrs. Mallory pale eyes finally rested on Esme. Her eyes were confused and then, finally, after a short while recognition settled there: "You're Esme McCarty." She pointed out.

Esme's frown deepened. "It's actually Higginbotham now."

The divorce. It was rarely spoken of. The marriage had been short-lived, in-fact that divorce process lasted longer than the marriage did. It happened long ago and had always remained a taboo subject. Even Renée rarely spoke of it, which was odd, for Renée always enjoyed to keep Charlie up to date on the happenings of Esme's life. It was so rarely spoken of that sometimes it took a reminder like this that Esme had actually been married at one point in her life.

Mrs. Mallory blinked. "Right—well—it's certainly been a long time since I've seen you in these parts of the world. Must be a good while since you've been back here in Forks—"

"Pardon Mrs. Mallory, but we're actually here to question your daughter." Esme interrupted.

Mrs. Mallory looked hesitant.

"It will only take a short while and we understand Lauren's current situations." Charlie interjected and Mrs. Mallory instantly looked swayed.

Mrs. Mallory turned to Lauren to address her, speaking a soft tone of voice: "Honey, Chief Swan and Ms. Higginbotham are here to speak to you. Ask you some questions about that night." Lauren winced and cringed. Mrs. Mallory ran a hand through Lauren's silvery blonde hair. The word 'no' was mumbled from Lauren's lips. Mrs. Mallory looked at Charlie sheepishly.

Charlie stepped forward: "I wish we could not put this upon you, Miss. Mallory, but unfortunately we must question you. However, if you ever feel the need to stop at any point through this questioning, we will happily continue this for another time."

Mrs. Mallory sighed and looked at Charlie admirably before turning to look at her daughter again, continuing to run her hand through Lauren's hair soothingly. "See? It won't be so hard. You can stop as soon as things get too much and Chief Swan can come back another time. Right?" Chief Swan nodded and when Lauren's eyes lifted to meet his, Charlie nodded.

"Okay." Lauren whispered.

"Okay." Mrs. Mallory stepped away, smiling.

Esme stepped forward at this moment, immediately firing into action. "Thank you for your cooperation, Miss. Mallory, and if you will—take your time—please recall what happened that night when you discovered the body of Cora Smith." Lauren flinched again and Esme remained firm, standing her ground, not backing down.

Lauren inhaled soundly—her shaky breath echoing throughout the room—and Esme poised her pen on the paper, ready. Lauren began to retell the tale of that night when Cora's life ended. Tyler and Lauren had been eating at The Lodge—nothing appeared to be of the unusual for them, or anyone else in the diner for that matter. No sound or word had been heard from Cora's death. Lauren vividly remembered seeing Cora leave the diner sometime between when their drinks arrived. After having their meal, the couple paid for their meal and ascended to the parking lot to Tyler's truck . . .

"That was when I—" Lauren chocked back a sound. Esme's pen paused on the notepad paper.

Mrs. Mallory had resumed stroking her daughter's hair. "That's it honey, you're doing so well."

Lauren was beginning to tremble.

"Do you want to stop?" Charlie questioned Lauren in a soft tone.

To the three adult's surprise, Lauren hastily shook her head. "Th-that was when I-I saw _him_ . . ."

"_Lauren_," Mrs. Mallory hissed.

"Him?" Charlie questioned eagerly. This was it. This is what they were eager to hear.

Mrs. Mallory turned to address Charlie. "I'm sorry Chief, ever since it happened Lauren has gotten it into her head that it was a murder—gotten it into her head that she saw someone, there, beside the . . . the . . . _body_"-Mrs. Mallory whispered the last part to Charlie. Lauren appeared to not be noticing, she was shaking still-"But there wasn't! There was no body! Was there, Lauren? It was an animal attack—Officer Stanley said so!"

Charlie's face tightened. Officer Stanley had told them that? Without his consent? "Officer Stanley told you it was an animal attack?" Esme's voice spoke out.

"It _wasn't_ an animal attack!" Lauren screeched suddenly. She was sitting upright. Her pale eyes were like fire. "I _saw_ him! I saw a man. I saw what he looked like. I _know_ he was there—I _know_ he was real. He was looking down at the body and he looked s-so _scary_. His eyes . . . _Oh_ his eyes . . ." Lauren whined. Mrs. Mallory was trying to grasp hold of Lauren. Lauren quickly pushed Mrs. Mallory's hands away. "_No_!" Lauren suddenly began to yank at the IV embedded in her arm.

"Miss. Mallory . . ." Charlie and Esme started warningly as Mrs. Mallory said: "Lauren, _no_, calm down."

Mrs. Mallory had grasped onto the hand that was trying to pull the IV out.

"_No, No! _You have to let me go! He's coming! _He's coming_! He's going to kill me . . . he's going to kill me like he killed _her_! Let me go, let me go!" Through Lauren's struggles, Esme had pressed the button on the bedside, and nurses were rushing in. The nurses in scrubs immediately fired into action, one of them pulling a syringe from a draw, and heading over to the bedside where they injected her with morphine. Mrs. Mallory was sobbing over her daughter whose struggles were slowly beginning to disappear gradually.

Charlie, who watched on with utter conflict, felt a hand upon his forearm. He turned and looked down at the emotionless face of Esme: "C'mon, let's go get some coffee." She said, before leading him out of the room, leaving Mrs. Mallory sobbing over her now unconscious child.

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**Okay… I've updated, phew.**

**In case any of you have read the note on my profile recently, I've been struggling with updates, and because of that I have deleted a lot of stories. Those stories will be returned completed, when I find the time, hopefully but for now they've gone because the pressure of updating was becoming too overwhelming. However, I don't intend to stop this story. I have a lot of ideas for this story and I feel it would be too much of a shame to delete it. It was the same for the other stories on my profile that I didn't delete.**

**Anyways, an update.**

**I know, I know, it's been a month and I go and give you a non-Della chapter. **

**Charlie and Esme have been absent for a short while so I decided to throw them into the scenario. I've started to throw SMALL hints into Esme's past, I don't know if you've noticed them, hopefully you have. It'll all become clear as the story progresses. I hope you like what I have in store for Charlie and Esme though.**

**And as for the Dr. Jasper Hale, I am VERY happy (and surprised) that all of you have taken to Jasper that well. He is a brill character. He will have quite a part in this story. He will be Damon's sidekick in a sense! Cause Damon needs a bud. However, before then, there will be a little conflict between the two of them & also some flashbacks (maybe?) about their past together—how they met etc.**

**P.S. did any of you catch on to the fact Bella noticed Jasper's scars? It's pretty important, since HUMANS don't see Jasper's scars in Twilight. Oh dear, have I gave too much away?**


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